Belém Tower

Belém Tower (in Portuguese Torre de Belém, ) is a fortified tower located in the Belém district of Lisbon, Portugal.

The Belém Tower was built in the early sixteenth century in the Portuguese late-Gothic style, the Manueline, to commemorate Vasco da Gama's expedition. This defensive, yet elegant construction has become one of the symbols of the city, a memorial to Portuguese power as it was during the Age of Discovery. In 1983, it was classified, together with the nearby Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery), as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

The Belém Tower was built both as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon and as part of a defensive system at the entrance to the Tagus river. The system was initiated by King John II (1455-1495), who built the Fortress of Cascais and the Fortress of São Sebastião of Caparica. The shore of Belém had been protected by a ship, the Grande Nau, but it was replaced by the Tower of Belém during the last five years of the reign of King Manuel I. It was dedicated to the patron saint of Lisbon, St Vincent.

The tower was constructed, between 1515 and 1521, by the military architect, Francisco de Arruda, who had already built several fortresses in Portuguese territories in Morocco. The influence of Moorish architecture is manifest in the delicate decorations, the arched windows, the balconies, and the ribbed cupolas of the watchtowers. Diogo de Boitaca, the first architect of the nearby Monastery of the Jerónimos, probably also participated in decorating the building. The machicolation and the battlements are decorated with the rich sculptural ornamentation of the Manueline style.

Originally, the tower stood on a little island near the right bank of the Tagus, opposite Restelo beach. With the progressive southward creep of the shoreline over the years, the tower is now practically 'moored' to the bank itself.

In 1580, when Lisbon was invaded by Spanish troops in the course of a struggle for the Portuguese throne, defenders of the tower fought and surrendered to the Duke of Alba. During subsequent centuries, the tower was mainly used as a prison (even though the cellars flooded regularly) and as a custom house. Indeed, given its height and lack of integration into the landscape, some historians believe the tower was always intended to serve as a customs outpost.

In the 1840s, at the urging of romantic writer Almeida Garrett, the Tower of Belém was restored by King Ferdinand II. At that 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 with the cross of the military Order of Christ, that decorate the crenellations of the walls, and the decoration of the small cloister of the bastion. The part of the tower facing the river displays the richest decorations.

The Tower of Belém can be divided into two parts, the bastion, with the shape of an irregular hexagon, and the five-story tower itself, located on the north side of the bastion. The whole ensemble looks like the bow of a caravel.

The bastion has a vaulted chamber (the casemate), with openings in the 3.5 m-thick walls for the 17 large-calibre breech-loading cannons. The open centre above the casemate made it easier to dispel the fumes and smokes. The bastion platform could also be used for the emplacement of light-calibre guns. This was the first Portuguese fortification with a two-level gun emplacement and it marks a new development in military architecture. The corners of this platform have delicate turrets ( guerites) topped by Moorish-looking cupolas. The base of the turrets have images of beasts, including a rhinoceros, considered to be 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. On the platform, in front of the tower, stands a statue of the Madonna of Belém with Child and a bunch of grapes in her left hand in a richly carved niche with a baldachin in Manueline style. The same turrets occur on the upper platform of the tower.

The entrance to the Tower is made via 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 covered loggia, running the full length of the south side of the first floor of the tower, is particularly delicate. It has a Venetian touch. 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 surrounding landscape. The powder magazine is at water level. The next storeys are reached via a narrow spiral staircase. The next storey was the commander's room. The second storey has covered balconies on each side. 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 oratory is on the top floor.

References

• Turner, J. - Grove Dictionary of Art - MacMillan Publishers Ltd., 1996; ISBN 1-884446-00-0
• Encyclopaedia Britannica Standard Edition CD ROM, 2002.
• Hancock, Matthew. The Rough Guide to Lisbon, Rough Guides Ltd, London, 2003. ISBN 1-85-828906-8
• Weimer, Alois & Weimer-Langer, Britta. Portugal, GeoCenter International Ltd., Basingstoke, UK, 2000. ISBN 3-82-976110-4
• General Bureau for National Buildings and Monuments (Portugal) [1]
• Guia IPPAR. Torre de Belém, 2001.

bg:Белен (кула)

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