2023 Lisbon Trip (Day Two – Monument of the Discoveries)

This grand monument is the Monument of the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos) which to me looks newer than it actually is but it was constructed between November 1958 and January 1960. It celebrates the period when Portugal was one of the major political powers in the world, at a time of the Age of Discovery which lasted between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. There was a time in the late fifteenth century that Portugal controlled to a great degree African and Indian trade, giving it immense amounts of wealth. The precise timing of the completion of this monument in 1960 was to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1460, seen to be one of the founding figures of the Age of Discovery.

There’s some considerable detail in the monument and this is Luís de Camões (1524-1580) who is known to be one of the Portugal’s greatest poets.

It’s possible to get close to the figures on the monument and it’s a formidable thing to see from some distance.

And from the other side of the monument, which is no less impressive.