Standing on the substantial waterfront Avenida Brasilia in the historic central Belem district of Lisbon, the Padrao dos Descobrimentos or Monument to the Discoveries is one of the most distinctive single monumental sculptures of the historic central Portuguese capital. The substantial principal monument was originally completed in its current substantial concrete form on 9 August 1960 to commemorate the five-hundredth anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator, the famous fifteenth-century Portuguese royal patron of the wider early Portuguese maritime exploration tradition. The substantial principal current monument is the substantial second version of a substantial monument originally completed in temporary plaster form for the substantial 1940 Portuguese World Exhibition. The substantial original 1940 version was designed by the Portuguese architect Cottinelli Telmo and the principal Portuguese sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida and was substantially demolished during the principal post-1940 dismantling of the wider Portuguese World Exhibition. The substantial principal current concrete version is substantially identical to the original 1940 version but was constructed in substantial permanent reinforced concrete. The substantial principal monument represents the prow of a substantial Portuguese caravel sailing ship of the principal late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The substantial principal monument reaches a substantial total height of approximately fifty-six metres above the surrounding street level and is one of the principal vertical landmarks of the substantial waterfront Belem district. The substantial principal sculptural figures along the principal eastern and western faces of the monument include around thirty-three individual figures representing the principal individual personalities of the wider Portuguese Age of Discoveries during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The substantial principal central figure at the principal prow of the substantial monument is the famous Prince Henry the Navigator, the famous fifteenth-century Portuguese royal patron of the wider Portuguese maritime exploration tradition. The substantial supplementary individual figures along the principal eastern face include the substantial individual figures of King Afonso V, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Alvares Cabral, Fernao de Magalhaes and the substantial various supplementary navigators, cartographers, missionaries and scientists associated with the wider Portuguese Age of Discoveries. The substantial principal monument includes a substantial internal lift providing direct access to the substantial principal upper viewing platform at the substantial top of the monument. The substantial principal upper viewing platform provides one of the principal panoramic viewing positions over the substantial central Belem district, with the principal substantial Jeronimos Monastery, the substantial Belem Tower and the substantial central Tagus estuary all visible from the principal upper viewing platform. The substantial principal entrance to the wider monument is open daily throughout the year with the standard commercial admission, with the substantial upper viewing platform included in the principal standard admission price.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Avenida Brasilia, Lisbon, Portugal

Opening Date: 09/08/1960