Belém Tower
On the Tagus, Francisco de Arruda's Manueline fortress that guarded the entrance to Lisbon, with its famous rhinoceros carved in stone.
Tower of Saint Vincent
Belém Tower, standing on the banks of the Tagus, is the most famous symbol of Lisbon in the Age of Discovery. Dedicated to Saint Vincent, the city's patron saint, it was born of a plan to defend the mouth of the Tagus that also included the Cascais Fortress and the Old Tower on the south bank. Work began in 1514, when the Jerónimos Monastery was already under construction, and was practically finished by 1519. It was designed by Francisco de Arruda, a specialist in military architecture with experience in Morocco, who built the fortification on a basalt outcrop, joining a modern bastion to a tower in the medieval tradition. Its decoration is a compendium of the Manueline style: carved ropes and knots, armillary spheres, crosses of the Order of Christ and watchtowers crowned by domes of oriental inspiration. At the base of one of them is the famous stone rhinoceros, a reminder of the animal given to the king that reached Lisbon in 1515. Classified as a National Monument in 1907 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, the Tower invites you to climb its floors and look out over the river from which the fleets set sail.
Located at: Belém Tower
Address: Av. Brasília, 1400-038 Lisboa
Opening hours: 09:30-17:30 (closed on Mondays)
Phone: +351 213 620 034
Coordinates: 38.6915860, -9.2159288
Buses: 729, 79B
Tram: 15E
Opened: 1514 (construction began, 512 years)
