Long Description:Belém Tower, or Torre de Belém, is a fortified tower located in the
Belém
district of
Lisbon,
Portugal.
It was built in the early 16th century in the Portuguese late
gothic style, the manueline, and is one of the symbols of the city.
It is classified, together with the nearby
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History
The Belém Tower was built as part of a defence system of the
entrance of the Tagus river, which was necessary to protect Lisbon.
The system was initiated by King John II (1455-1495), who built the
Fortress of Cascais and the Fortress of Sao Sebastiao of Caparica.
The banks of Belém were protected by a ship, the Grande Nau,
replaced by the Tower of Belém during the reign of King Manuel
I.
The Tower was constructed between 1515 and 1521 by military
architect Francisco de Arruda, who had already built several
fortresses in Portuguese possessions in Morocco. Diogo de Boitaca,
first architect of the nearby Monastery of the Jerónimos, probably
also participated in decorating the building. Originally, the Tower
stood on an little island in right side of the Tagus, surrounded by
water. Opposite the beach at Restelo, but, with the progressive
southward creeping of the shore over the years, it is now
practically moored to the bank itself. It was dedicated to the
patron saint of Lisbon, St Vincent.
Renaissance loggia on the first floor of Belém Tower.In 1580, when
Lisbon was invaded by Spanish troops in the course of a struggle
for the Portuguese throne, the Tower fought and surrended to the
Duke of Alba. In the following centuries the Tower was mainly used
as prison and customs. Indeed, given its height and lack of
dissimulation in the landscape, some historians believe the Tower
was mostly intended to serve as a customs outpost.
In the 1840s, under the impulse of romantic writer Almeida Garrett,
the Tower of Belém was restored by King Ferdinand II. At this point
many neo-manueline decorative elements were added to the building.
It was declared a National Monument in 1910.
Art and architecture
The Tower of Belém is considered one of the main works of the
Portuguese late gothic, the manueline style. Indeed, the tower is
decorated with several typical manueline motifs like the armillary
sphere (the symbol of Manuel I), the cross of the Order of Christ
(to which Manuel I belonged), twisted ropes, elaborate rib vaulting
and other features. However, some of the decoration dates from the
renovation of the 1840s, like the shields that decorate the
crenellations of the walls and the decoration of the small cloister
of the bastion.
The Tower of Belém can be divided into two parts, the bastion, with
the shape of an irregular hexagon, and the five-storey tower
itself, located on the north side of bastion. The whole ensemble
looks like a stone ship.
Casemate of the bastion of Belém Tower.The bastion has a vaulted
chamber (the casemate), with openings for the cannons. The corners
of the bastion terrace have delicate turrets (guerites) topped by
oriental-looking cupolas. The base of the turrets have images of
beasts, including a rhinoceros, considered to the first sculpture
of such an animal in Western European art. This rhinoceros probably
depicts the one that Manuel I sent to the Pope in 1515.
The entrance to the Tower is done through a portal decorated with
many manueline motifs, including Manuel I's badge of honour (an
armillary sphere). The whole Tower is also decorated with stone
twisted ropes, which even tie a knot at the north façade of the
building. The upper corners of the Tower walls have statues of St
Vincent and St Michael, as well as many fine windows with arches.
The renaissance-style loggia on the south side of the first floor
of the tower is particularly delicate. The many shields that
decorate the merlons are neo-manueline.
The tower itself, 35 metres high, has four storeys and a terrace
that offers wonderful views of the surround landscape. Of the tower
floors, the most interesting is the chapel of the fourth floor,
with a magnificent manueline rib vault decorated with the armillary
sphere and the cross of the military Order of Christ, who
participated in many Portuguese conquests.
The given coordinates are from the shore. You have to cross a
wooden bridge to get to the tower gate.
