Monument to the Discoveries, Lisbon Padrao dos Descobrimentos

Cottinelli Telmo, the architect who was responsible for creating the whole area of the world exhibition, built the 54m/177ft high Monument to the Discoveries, the figures on the two external sides are the work of the sculptor Leopoldo Almeida.Viewed from the side, the symbolic meaning of the monument becomes clear: it is shaped like a ship's bow and projects out above the water across the Tagus. Henry the Navigator himself stands right at the top of the prow behind him are a row of over sized figures, each from a different profession, yet each of which took part in some way in the voyages of discovery and conquest. Immediately behind Henry the Navigator are Manuel I and the poet Luis de Camoes. Stylized armillary spheres on both sides of the construction stand as symbols of the Portuguese sea voyages of that time. The front entrance is shaped like a huge sword.In 1985 several rooms in the monument were furnished and these are now used for small temporary exhibitions or conference rooms. Concepts from the "Golden Age" gave the rooms their names. The vantage point on the seventh floor offers a marvelous view of the Tagus as far as the Atlantic, of the Praça do Imperio with the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and of a compass measuring 50m/164ft in diameter let into the ground in the square in front of the monument, a present from the Republic of South Africa. The Portuguese routes of discovery and of conquest have been portrayed in the center with exact dates.