Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 04/06/2026 17:45:00

A substantial triumphal arch standing at the northern end of Rua Augusta as it enters the great Praca do Comercio square in the historic Baixa district of central Lisbon, the Arco da Rua Augusta is one of the most prominent individual architectural landmarks of the post-1755 reconstruction of the Portuguese capital. The arch was originally conceived as a victory monument by the Marques de Pombal during the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The original commission for the arch dates from around 1759, shortly after the substantial completion of the wider reconstruction of the lower town under the direction of the chief reconstruction architect Eugenio dos Santos. The original design was substantially modified through the following century, with the principal current upper sections only completed in 1873 to substantially revised designs by the Portuguese architect Verissimo Jose da Costa. The total construction period of around one hundred and twenty years makes the arch one of the longest individual baroque construction projects anywhere in southern Europe. The principal architectural elements include a central arch reaching around thirty metres in height, flanked by two pairs of substantial Corinthian columns supporting an elaborate sculptural pediment along the upper section. The famous monumental sculptures along the upper pediment include the central allegorical figures of Glory crowning Genius and Valour, the four reclining figures representing the principal Portuguese rivers Tagus, Douro, Minho and Mondego, and the supplementary standing figures of four important historical Portuguese figures including Vasco da Gama, Nuno Alvares Pereira and the Marques de Pombal himself. The sculptural programme was executed primarily by the Portuguese sculptors Vitor Bastos and Calmels between around 1862 and 1873. The principal central crowning sculpture of Glory was completed by the French sculptor Anatole Calmels during a brief residence in Lisbon during the late 1860s and is one of the most prominent individual sculptural elements of the entire post-1755 reconstruction of central Lisbon. The upper viewing terrace at the top of the arch was opened to the public in 2013 following an extensive restoration programme by the Lisbon municipal government. The viewing platform is reached by a small internal lift and provides one of the most distinctive single panoramic viewing positions over the historic Baixa district to the north and the great Praca do Comercio and the Tagus River to the south. The terrace is open daily from nine in the morning to seven in the evening and is included in the standard Lisbon city tourist card.