The saga of the Portuguese discoveries, embarked upon in the fifteenth century, ushered in new prospects of interactions between people through better knowledge of our planet, the humanist movement and relations on a worldwide scale. Lisbon blossomed at the time of the Discoveries, with its growing importance as a cosmopolitan city, rapidly becoming a reference and meeting point for cultures, peoples and knowledge, and its port an obligatory stopover for those navigating the international trade routes. Portugal was at this time the protagonist of a pioneering globalisation which united continents, peoples and nations by sea. Protecting the city of Lisbon became a crucial necessity. King D. João II (1455-1495) took the initiative of outlining an innovative and effective plan, which consisted of the creation of a tripartite maritime defence between Cascais bulwark, the fortress of São Sebastião da Caparica (also known as Torre Velha) on the other bank of the River Tejo, and a third fortress, Belém Tower, erected by his successor D. Manuel I. The crossfire thus achieved between the two banks of the river would prevent the entry of enemy ships.
Belém tower was built between 1514 and 1519, some distance from the bank and surrounded by water, by the architect Francisco de Arruda. It is also elegant evidence of the transition of military architecture from the ancient medieval defences to the “modern” forms of the Renaissance, with its original combination of a recessed tower with a forward placed body well armed with artillery.
Belém Tower's artillery system - two firing levels and bullets ricocheting off the surface of the water - is similar to what was used in the Portuguese galleons, giving them a long firing range and strategic capacity to control the water on the open sea.
In addition to being a deterrent weapon, Belém Tower was to be the magnificent sentinel of the capital of the empire. In this watchtower, D. Manuel I, absolute ruler of a powerful and opulent empire, inscribed his heraldry in stone - the royal arms, the armillary sphere and the Cross of the Order of Christ.
As an emblematic and iconographic testimony of this historic crossing of cultures, a rhinoceros arrived in Lisbon in May 1515, sent to King D. Manuel I by the Portuguese governor of India, Afonso de Albuquerque. This animal disembarked at Belém quay and was sculptured in stone in a naturalist style at the base of one of the sentry-houses of the Tower. In that same year, the German artist Albrecht Dürer, based on descriptions sent from Lisbon, created his famous engraving which spread the image of this “exotic” animal all over Europe which, up to this time, had been identified with the mythical unicorn.
Over time, and with the construction of new, more modern and effective fortresses, Belém Tower gradually lost its defensive purpose. The tower was later used as a customs house and a prison. It witnessed its storage rooms transformed into dungeons at the time of the Spanish occupation (1580) and in subsequent periods of political turbulence.
During the nineteenth century, Liberalism and Romanticism brought in new conceptions of History and built heritage as pillars of identity of peoples and nations and, thus the imperative need to preserve Monuments for future generations. It was in this context that Belém Tower was restored in 1846, enhancing the original design of the building based on aesthetic criteria and standards that favoured the uniformity of the "Manueline style" of this Monument.
Belém Tower was classified a National Monument in 1907 and as UNESCO World Heritage in 1983. Nowadays it is recognised as a supreme symbol of Portuguese cultural heritage, an icon of the city of Lisbon and a memorial to the Great Portuguese Seafaring Journeys of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Five centuries later, Belém Tower continues to be the guardian of the individuality and identity of the Portuguese. It is a cultural reference, a symbol of the particularity of a country that wishes to maintain a present and future ongoing dialogue with other cultures and civilisations and, above all, with those with whom we share a long common historical experience.
