Stay, Stray, Play and Feast: Padrão dos Descobrimentos and Torre de Belém: Golden Age Of Discovery Monuments, Lovely LisbonSeries 6

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Padrão dos Descobrimentos and Torre de Belém: Golden Age Of Discovery Monuments, Lovely LisbonSeries 6

Padrão dos Descobrimentos and Torre de Belém
Golden Age Of Discovery Monuments

Lovely LisbonSeries 6

One must visit place while in Belem

are the Padrão dos Descobrimentos

or the Monument to the Discoveries

…and the ancient Torre de Belém,

Padrão dos Descobrimentos is located at the northern bank
of the Tagus River estuary, where ships used to depart to explore

and trade with other parts of the world. It celebrates the Portuguese

Age of Discovery or Age of Exploration during the 15th and 16th century.

The monument was designed to appear like

the bow of a boat overlooking the estuary,

…populated with life size sculptures

of great ancient explorers and seafarers,

with the rear representing the Latin Cross.

Leading the pack was Henry the Navigator

Prince Infante D. Henrique of Portugal, the

Duke of Viseu, an important figure in 15th-

century Portuguese politics and regarded as

the main initiator during the Age of Discoveries.

We were on the look out for Ferdinand Magellan,

the popular Portuguese explorer known to be the

very first person to circumnavigate the world.

He was the fifth person in the row at the Eastern side

of the monument. The kids were interested to see his

figure as he is credited in their history books as the

one who discovered the Philippines, where he died

after being killed by Lapu- Lapu, a Cebuano warrior.

At the from façade flanking the staircase are two inscriptions:

the first on the left, "AO INFANTE D. HENRIQVE E AOS

PORTVGVESES QVE DESCOBRIRAM OS CAMINHOS

DO MAR" translated as “To Prince Henry and the Portuguese

that Discovered the Roads of the Sea) over a metal anchor;

…and, on the right "NO V CENTENÁRIO DO INFANTE

D. HENRIQVE 1460 – 1960" that translates to “On the Fifth

centenary of Prince Henry 1460–1960), over a crown of laurel.

From the Padrão dos Descobrimentos,

we strolled at the scenic riverside park

which is a part of the Tagus River estuary.

It is lined with bars,

…and restaurants,

…and stalls selling souvenirs to tourists.

At the other end of the riverbank estuary is an

ancient watchtower called Torre de Belém.

Belém Tower is a fortified tower that played a significant role in the
Portuguese maritime discoveries at era of the Golden Age of Exploration.

Along with the nearby Jerónimos Monastery,

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in the early 16th century
at the mouth of the Tagus river and serves as a ceremonial gateway
to Lisbon to travelers in the past. The tower was apparently built in a
small island the middle of the Tagus and now stands at the shoreline
when the river was redirected after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.