Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello - Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

"Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, 1st Count of Oeiras (13 May 1699 – 8 May 1782), popularly known as Marquis of Pombal, was an 18th-century Portuguese statesman. He was Secretary of the State of Internal Affairs of the Kingdom (the equivalent of a Prime Minister today) in the government of Joseph I of Portugal from 1750 to 1777. Undoubtedly the most prominent minister in the government, he is considered to have been its de facto head. 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 standardise quality throughout the country, and 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 adopted in Lisbon 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 secularisation in Portugal. However, historians argue that Pombal's implementation of the ideas of the "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." link

The statue is approximately 3 times life size and made of white marble. Although obviously a human figure it is constructed ina rather abstract form where for instance the head seems to consist purely of curly hair. Contemporary portrait picture of him show him wearing a large curly wig and so the head of the statue is obviously based on this.

After his work of reconstructing Lisbon he went on to found the new town of Vila Real de Santo António and built it on a grid pattern similar to Lisbon. This town is next to the River Guadiana which forms the border between Portugal and Spain.

There is a small plaque on the side of the statue in Porugese.

Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello
Marques de Pombal
Lisboa, 13/05/1699
Pombal, 18/05/1782
Funadaor e mentor desta cidade

Homenagem da câmara municipal
Vila Real de Santo António a 13/05/2009

English translation

Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello
Marquis of Pombal
Lisbon, 13/05/1699
Pombal, 18/05/1782
Founder and mentor of this city

Homage of the town hall of
Vila Real de Santo António on 13/05/2009

The city faces the bank of the river and the statue is on the promenade alongside the river outside a small harbour.

URL of the statue: Not listed

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