1Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) is a monument on the northern bank of the Tagus River estuary, in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém, Lisbon.
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3 The monument was conceived in 1939 by Portuguese architect José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo, and sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida, as a temporary beacon during the Portuguese World Exhibition opening in June 1940.
4 It was originally constructed as a temporary construction, located in the Praça do Império as part of an urban renewal project favoured by minister Duarte Pacheco. Yet, by June 1943, the original structure was demolished after the exposition as there was no concrete formalization of the project.
5 The adjacent "Locks of Love" is steel mesh frameworl covered with literally thousands of padlocks with couple names written or etched on them.
6 On 3 February 1958, in decree No. 41-517, the government, through the Ministério de Obras Publicas (Ministry of Public Works), the Overseas Provinces and the Câmara Municipal of Lisbon, promoted the intent to construct a permanent Monument to the Discoveries.
7 Between November 1958 and January 1960, the new monument was constructed in cement and rose-tinted stone (from Leiria), and the statues sculpted from limestone excavated from the region of Sintra.
8 The new project was enlarged from the original 1940 model as part of the commemorations to celebrate the fifth centennial of the death of Infante Henry the Navigator.
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10 Inaugurated on 9 August 1960, it was one of several projects nationwide that were intended to mark the Comemorações Henriquinas (the celebrations marking the anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator. Yet it was not completely finished until 10 October 1960.
11 Ostensibly a 52-metre-high (171 ft) slab standing vertically along the bank of the Tagus, the design takes the form of the prow of a caravel (ship used in the early Portuguese exploration).
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13 On either side of the slab are ramps that join at the river's edge, with the figure of Henry the Navigator on its edge.
14 On either side of the Infante, along the ramp, are 16 figures (33 in total) representing figures from the Portuguese Age of Discovery. These great people of the era included monarchs, explorers, cartographers, artists, scientists and missionaries.
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18 Each idealized figure is designed to show movement towards the front (the unknown sea), projecting a direct or indirect synthesis of their participation in the events after Henry.
19 The best thing for a hot sunny day - shade and ice cream.
