Belem

Belem
Belem is located on Rio Tejo at the west end of Lisboa. This was the departure point for Vasco da Gama on his initial voyage of discovery to India. That voyage provides much of the inspiration for the sites around the town including the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, the Museu de Marinha (Maritime Museum), the Torre de Belem, and the Pradao dos Descobrimentos.
The construction of the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos was partially funded by a tax on the spice import that resulted from Vasco da Gama's route to India. When completed the monastery was sited on the waterfront, but the Rio Tejo has receded for centuries and the building is now well inland. The movement of the river away from the monastery was at least partially due to the great earthquake of 1755.
Photo by Jack & Nikki Goodman


The Museo de Marinha occupies one of the wings of the monastery. It is a fascinating place for those of us interested in boats, but should be very interesting to those who are not boaters. The museum houses a vast collection of ship models and artifacts of Portuguese naval history, in particular the voyages of discovery. These artifacts include Astrolabs, sextants, compass, cannons, etc.. Interestingly, some of the ship models are large and detailed enough that they were actually used to train Portuguese Naval Cadets in handling large sailing vessels.	Photo by Jack & Nikki Goodman
Photo by Jack & Nikki Goodman.
Photo by Jack & Nikki Goodman


The Torre de Belem is a fortress that was built to protect the approaches to Lisbon's harbor and was originally located nearly in the center of the river.
It is now accessed by a short walkway from the shore.




The Pradao dos Descomrimentos (Monument to the Discoverers) was originally constructed of light materials for a World's Fair held in Belem around 1940. It was not built to last and was taken down after the fair. Apparently the monument was so popular and generated so much attention it was decided that a permanent monument should be built on the site of the fair. It also apparent that this took a lot of time to finance and construct as this monument was dedicated in 1960. This is a situation not dissimilar to that of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Both were constructed as temporary structures for a major exposition. Only the Eiffel Tower was actually built to last and did not need to be re-built. The monument represents the bow of a Caravel (the Portuguese vessel of discovery) with the principals of the discoveries depicted along the bow. At the head of the group is Prince Henry the Navigator, who provided much of the leadership and funding for the discoveries, followed by Vasco da Gama and many more discoverers. You can take an elevator inside to the top of the monument.







Vasco da Gama and the others on the monument were not the only Portuguese to embark on historic voyages from Belem. Just west of the Padrao dos Descombrimentos, next to the Doca do Bom Success is a monument to the first transatlantic flight from Europe to South America (Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro). There is an exhibit of the plane depicted in this monument as well more details on the flight in the Museo de Marinha nearby, see above.