Monument to the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos)

The Monument to the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos) stands on the north bank of the Tagus River in Belém, Lisbon, facing the point from which many of Portugal's great maritime expeditions departed during the 15th and 16th centuries. Designed by the architect Cottinelli Telmo and the sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida, the monument was originally built in concrete in 1940 for the Portuguese World Exhibition and reconstructed permanently in stone and concrete in 1960 to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator. The structure takes the form of a stylised carved prow rising 56 metres above the riverbank, with Prince Henry at the leading edge holding a caravel model, flanked by a procession of 33 figures on either side — explorers, cartographers, navigators, poets, and monarchs who contributed to Portugal's Age of Discovery, including Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, and Ferdinand Magellan. The monument is open for interior visits: a lift carries visitors to a rooftop platform at 48 metres with panoramic views across the Tagus, the Jerónimos Monastery, and the Belém Tower. On the plaza below, a large wind-rose mosaic map in coloured stone — a gift from South Africa in 1960 — depicts the routes of Portuguese explorers across all the world's oceans. A visit including the interior takes 45–60 minutes.