The Tower at the Edge of the Known World
Lisbon Series - Part 2
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In the early 15th century, Portugal was a small country at the edge of Europe with a big idea: sail south along the African coast, find a route to India, and cut out the Arab and Venetian middlemen who controlled the spice trade. It was audacious, extremely dangerous, and it worked.
Over the course of roughly a century, Portuguese sailors mapped the coastlines of Africa, reached India, stumbled across Brazil, and established trading posts across three continents. For a brief period, Portugal was one of the world’s dominant maritime powers ─ running a global network of ports, forts, and trade routes from a country of fewer than two million people.
Belém Tower was built between 1516 and 1521, standing at the mouth of the Tagus as a fortified gateway ─ the last thing sailors saw leaving, the first thing they saw returning. It is small by the standards of fortifications, almost delicate, covered in ornate Manueline stonework: ropes carved in stone, armillary spheres, coral, the cross of the Order of Christ. Nearly every decorative element celebrates Portugal’s maritime expansion.
The tower was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and included in the registry of the Seven Wonders of Portugal in 2007.
A short walk along the waterfront brings you to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos — the Monument to the Discoveries ─ and it stops you, because it is shaped like the prow of a caravel surging into the river. Leading the procession, holding a model of a ship in his outstretched hand and gazing west towards the Atlantic, is Prince Henry the Navigator. Behind him, carved in limestone from lioz limestone, stand 32 more figures ─ explorers, cartographers, missionaries, poets ─ all leaning forward at the same angle, as if the wind is hitting them from behind. The current structure was inaugurated in 1960 to mark 500 years since Henry’s death.
In front of the monument, set into the pavement, is a 50-metre compass rose and world map gifted to Portugal by South Africa in 1960, showing the routes of the great voyages radiating outward from this exact stretch of riverbank. Stand on it and the distances are quietly staggering.
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3 things you probably didn’t know about Belém and the Age of Exploration:
Vasco da Gama is buried in the Jerónimos Monastery, in a tomb so ornate it looks more like a piece of furniture than a final resting place. He spent most of his career commanding brutal reprisals against Arab merchants whose trade routes he was destroying. He was also extremely effective at his job.
The armillary sphere ─ a skeletal globe of rings representing the celestial equator, ecliptic, and meridians ─ appears everywhere in Belém because it was the personal symbol of King Manuel I. It is still on the Portuguese flag today, directly above the shield. It is one of the very few national flags to feature a scientific instrument.
A Portuguese explorer named Fernão de Magalhães ─ known in English as Magellan ─ led the first circumnavigation of the globe. He set off in 1519. He didn’t make it back personally; he was killed in the Philippines in 1521. His ships completed the voyage without him.
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Lisbon Quiz — Belém & the Age of Exploration edition
Can you get all 5?
What is Magellan’s full name?
Who is the main protagonist of Padrão dos Descobrimentos?
What does the armillary sphere represent, and where does it appear today?
What is the name of the decorative architectural style seen on Belém Tower?
Who completed the first circumnavigation of the globe, and why is the question complicated?
(scroll for answers)
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Answers:
1. Fernão de Magalhães
2. Prince Henry the Navigator
3. A model of the celestial sphere used in astronomy and navigation.
4. Manueline (named after King Manuel I)
5. Magellan led the expedition but was killed in 1521 — his crew completed it without him
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