Qualla: Monument of the Discoveries

Monument of the Discoveries: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit janneth. from Nyköping, Sweden, CC BY 2.0. It was supposed to be temporary. In 1939, architect José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo and sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida designed a monument shaped like a stylized caravel for the 1940 Portuguese World Exhibition — a celebration of empire organized under the Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. The monument stood in the Praça do Império, a romanticized idealization of Portuguese exploration rendered in perishable materials. Cottinelli Telmo himself had reservations about the project. But temporary things have a way of becoming permanent in Lisbon, and twenty years later the monument was rebuilt in concrete and stone on the northern bank of the Tagus, where ships once departed to explore and trade with India and the Orient.

Image: janneth. from Nyköping, Sweden | CC BY 2.0

Monument of the Discoveries: Thirty-Three Figures Facing the Sea

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tiago Fioreze, CC BY-SA 3.0. The permanent monument, completed on 10 October 1960, rises from the riverbank like a giant stone prow cutting into the Tagus. Henry the Navigator stands at the bow, holding a small caravel. Behind him, thirty-two figures line both sides of the monument — explorers, cartographers...

Image: Tiago Fioreze | CC BY-SA 3.0

Monument of the Discoveries: A Monument Between Two Eras

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit xiquinhosilva from Cacau, CC BY 2.0. The original 1940 structure was part of an urban renewal project championed by minister Duarte Pacheco, who transformed Belém's waterfront into a showcase for Salazar's vision of Portuguese identity. By the time the government decreed a permanent reconstruction on 3 February 1958...

Image: xiquinhosilva from Cacau | CC BY 2.0

Monument of the Discoveries: Glory and Its Shadows

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit deror_avi, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Monument of the Discoveries occupies complicated ground, both literally and figuratively. It celebrates an era of extraordinary maritime achievement — the voyages that connected continents, mapped oceans, and transformed global trade. But the Age of Discovery was also an age ...

Image: deror_avi | CC BY-SA 3.0

Monument of the Discoveries: The Belém Waterfront Today

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Neil, CC BY 2.0. Standing on the Tagus riverbank between the Jerónimos Monastery and the Tower of Belém, the Monument of the Discoveries anchors a stretch of Lisbon's waterfront dense with historical and cultural landmarks. Visitors can take an elevator to the top for panoramic views of the river...

Image: Neil | CC BY 2.0