Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo - Lisbon, Portugal
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Metro2
N 38° 42.501 W 009° 08.199
29S E 488118 N 4284421
This sculpture is one of four historical figures on the Rua Augusta Arch in Lisbon.
Waymark Code: WMM53Z
Location: Lisboa, Portugal
Date Posted: 07/22/2014
Views: 10
Located on the Rua Augusta Arch near the waterfront, this sculpture of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo depicts him as a middle-aged man. It appears to be life-sized. The standing figure wears long hair (or a wig) and a long coat and breeches. He holds a document in his left hand and gestures with a slight point of the index finger on his right. Wikipedia's article for the Arch (
visit link) identifies the figures and indicates the artist is Victor Bastos but does not provide a date.....although the arch was completed in 1873.
Wikipedia's page for de Carvalho e Melo (
visit link) informs us:
"Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, 1st Count of Oeiras ...; 13 May 1699 – 8 May 1782) was an 18th-century Portuguese statesman. He was Secretary of the State of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves (the equivalent to a today's Prime Minister) in the government of Joseph I of Portugal from 1750 to 1777. Undoubtedly the most prominent minister in the government, he is considered today to have been the de facto head of government. Pombal is notable for his swift and competent leadership in the aftermath of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. He implemented sweeping economic policies in Portugal to regulate commercial activity and standardize quality throughout the country. Pombal was instrumental in weakening the grip of the Inquisition. The term Pombaline is used to describe not only his tenure, but also the architectural style which formed after the great earthquake.
Pombal, who was considered an estrangeirado, introduced many fundamental administrative, educational, economic, and ecclesiastical reforms justified in the name of "reason" and instrumental in advancing secularization. However, historians argue that Pombal’s "enlightenment," while far-reaching, was primarily a mechanism for enhancing autocracy at the expense of individual liberty and especially an apparatus for crushing opposition, suppressing criticism, and furthering colonial economic exploitation as well as intensifying print censorship and consolidating personal control and profit."