Torre de Belem, Lisbon Portugal

The Torre de Belém is located in the parish of Belém, municipality, and District of Lisbon, in Portugal. On the right bank of the river Tagus, where once existed the beach of Belém, was primitively surrounded by the waters throughout its perimeter. Over the centuries it was wrapped around the beach until today the firm land was incorporated.

One of the city’s former Libris, the monument is an icon of the architecture of the reign of D. Manuel I, in a synthesis between the tower of the medieval tradition and the modern bulwark, where they had artillery pieces.

Over time, the tower was losing its function of defending the bar of the Tagus and, from the Philippine occupation, the ancient paioles gave way to dungeons. On the four floors of the tower, the hall of the governor, the Hall of Kings, the courtroom, and finally the chapel with its five-century vaulted features are maintained.

The Tower of St. Vincent (1514) belongs to a formation of defense of the Tagus basin sent erect by John II of Portugal, composed to the South by the tower of São Sebastião da Caparica (1481) and to the west by the tower of Santo António de Cascais (1488).

The monument stands out for the implicit nationalism since it is all surrounded by decorations of the coat of arms of Portugal, including inscriptions of crosses of the Order of Christ in the windows of Bulwark; These characteristics refer mainly to the typical architecture of a time when the country was a global power (that of the beginning of the modern age).

Classified as a World Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 1983, it was elected as one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal on July 7, 2007.

In 2015 it was visited by 608,000 tourists.