| Padrão
dos Descobrimentos. (Monument to the Discoveries) is a monument that celebrates
the Portuguese who took part in the Age of Discovery of the 15th and 16th
centuries. It is located on the estuary of the Tagus river in the Belém
parish of Lisbon, Portugal, where ships departed to their often unknown
destinations.The monument consists of a 52 metre-high slab of concrete,
carved into the shape of the prow of he Padrão dos Descobrimentos
which faces away from the river features a carved sword which stretches
for the full height of the monument. It was conceived by Portuguese artists,
architecht Cottinelli Telmo and sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida as a temporary
beacon of the Portuguese World's Fair of 1940. The Monument to the Discoveries
represents a romantic idealisation of the Portuguese past that was typical
during the regime of then-dictator Salazar. |
