Belem, Lisbon, Portugal
Houses in Belem
Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (St. Jerome's Monastery). The monastery and huge church were built in thanksgiving for Vasco da Gama's safe return after discovering the sea route to India. The job of the monks of the Order of St. Jerome was to give help and comfort to sailors. Vasco da Gama is buried here. The monastery was built on the site of the chapel where da Gama and his officers kept an all-night vigil before departing.
Door of the monastery church
Interior of the church
Church interior
Plaque near Vasco da Gama's tomb
Vasco da Gama's tomb in the church at the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos
Discoveries Monument beside the Rio Tejo in Belem, inaugurated in 1960 on the 500th anniversary of Prince Henry the Navigator's death. It is shaped like a caravel, the newer and more maneuverable boat developed under Henry and used by Portuguese explorers, and memorializes explorers, navigators, mathematicians, painters, poets - and one woman, Philippa of Lancastershire (second from the left at the bottom), the British princess who married King John of Portugal and was the mother of Henry the Navigator and his brothers.
Discoveries Monument - detail of west side. Henry the Navigator is at the prow, Ferdinand the Saint (one of Henry's brothers) kneels behind him, Gil Eanes (first to explore past Cape Bojador along the northwest African coast) holds the ship's wheel, Pedro Nunes (mathematician and cosmographer who made crucial contributions to navigation techniques) holds the armillary shpere.
Discoveries Monument - detail of east side. Henry at the prow holding a caravel, King Alfonso V kneeling beside him, Vasco da Gama next, and Ferdinand Magellan holding the cricle
Large sculptures of armillary spheres flank the Discoveries Monument
Tower of Belem. When originally built in the early 1500s to guard the entrance to Lisbon's harbor, it sat in the middle of the river, but the river has since shifted to the south and the Tower is now close to the river edge.
Tower of Belem, detail showing carved ropes. The carved ropes celebrate Portugal's sea power, and appear on buildings all over Portugal, around and over doors and windows, in places where buildings elsewhere might have flowers or vines or other decorative elements.
Houses in Belem
Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (St. Jerome's Monastery). The monastery and huge church were built in thanksgiving for Vasco da Gama's safe return after discovering the sea route to India. The job of the monks of the Order of St. Jerome was to give help and comfort to sailors. Vasco da Gama is buried here. The monastery was built on the site of the chapel where da Gama and his officers kept an all-night vigil before departing.
Door of the monastery church
Interior of the church
Church interior
Plaque near Vasco da Gama's tomb
Vasco da Gama's tomb in the church at the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos
Discoveries Monument beside the Rio Tejo in Belem, inaugurated in 1960 on the 500th anniversary of Prince Henry the Navigator's death. It is shaped like a caravel, the newer and more maneuverable boat developed under Henry and used by Portuguese explorers, and memorializes explorers, navigators, mathematicians, painters, poets - and one woman, Philippa of Lancastershire (second from the left at the bottom), the British princess who married King John of Portugal and was the mother of Henry the Navigator and his brothers.
Discoveries Monument - detail of west side. Henry the Navigator is at the prow, Ferdinand the Saint (one of Henry's brothers) kneels behind him, Gil Eanes (first to explore past Cape Bojador along the northwest African coast) holds the ship's wheel, Pedro Nunes (mathematician and cosmographer who made crucial contributions to navigation techniques) holds the armillary shpere.
Discoveries Monument - detail of east side. Henry at the prow holding a caravel, King Alfonso V kneeling beside him, Vasco da Gama next, and Ferdinand Magellan holding the cricle
Large sculptures of armillary spheres flank the Discoveries Monument
Tower of Belem. When originally built in the early 1500s to guard the entrance to Lisbon's harbor, it sat in the middle of the river, but the river has since shifted to the south and the Tower is now close to the river edge.
Tower of Belem, detail showing carved ropes. The carved ropes celebrate Portugal's sea power, and appear on buildings all over Portugal, around and over doors and windows, in places where buildings elsewhere might have flowers or vines or other decorative elements.