The Torre de Belém, formerly Torre de São Vicente a Par de Belém,
officially Torre de São Vicente, is a fortification located in the
parish of Belém, municipality and district of Lisbon, in Portugal.
On the right bank of the Tagus River, where the beach of Belém once
existed, it was originally surrounded by water around its entire
perimeter. Over the centuries it was surrounded by the beach, until
today it is incorporated into the mainland. One of the ex libris of
the city, the monument is an icon of the architecture of the reign
of King Manuel I, in a synthesis between the traditional medieval
keep and the modern bulwark, where artillery pieces were placed.
Over time, the tower lost its function of defending the Tagus
bar and, after the Philippine occupation, the old magazines gave way
to dungeons. On the four floors of the tower, the Governor's Room,
the King's Room, the Audience Room and, finally, the Chapel with its
characteristic 15th-century vaults remain. The Tower of São Vicente
(1514) belongs to a defense formation for the Tagus basin, ordered
to be erected by João 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 its implicit nationalism, as it is completely
surrounded by decorations of the Coat of Arms of Portugal, including
inscriptions of crosses of the Order of Christ on the bastion
windows; such characteristics refer mainly to the typical
architecture of a time when the country was a global power (the
beginning of the Modern Age).
Along with the Jerónimos
Monastery, it was classified in 1983 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
and elected as one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal in 2007. In 2015
it was visited by more than 608 thousand tourists.
In 1495, King D. Manuel I becomes an important figure in
international trade, as Vasco da Gama and later Álvares Cabral establish
maritime routes with India, Goa and Malacca, Africa and Brazil, bringing
and offering exotic products. These experiences and knowledge lead to
the definition of the characteristics of the Manueline style,
represented in its monuments. Portugal is especially associated with the
Manueline style, a designation acquired by the works resulting from the
reign of King Manuel I, between 1495 and 1521. In some way, this style,
according to the author, comes from influences of the Elizabethan style
of Spain, elaborate and ostentatious. . The Tower of São Vicente is an
example of transition between the architecture of the Middle Ages and
the Renaissance, in a consonant way allied to the good Manueline manner,
the mass of a square tower of a medieval nature, approximately thirty
meters high, in a body advanced "basement" and base, reinforcing the
horizontality and embracing the irregular hexagonal shape, with forty
meters in length, facing south and towards the Tagus, aiming to disarm
with its fire batteries, placed in the "casamated" bulwark, any attempt
assault by sea.
Originally under the invocation of São Vicente de
Zaragoça, patron saint of the city of Lisbon, designated in the 16th
century by the name of Baluarte de São Vicente along with Belém and by
Baluarte do Restelo, this fortification was part of the defensive plan
of the Tagus river bar designed to time of D. João II (1481-95),
integrated on the right bank of the river by Baluarte de Cascais and, on
the left, by Baluarte da Caparica.
The chronicler Garcia de
Resende was the author of his initial sketch, recording:
"And so
he then ordered the (...) tower and bulwark of Caparica, in front of
Belém, in which there was much and great artillery; and he had ordered
the construction of a strong fortress where the beautiful tower of Belém
now stands, which King D. Manuel, may there be holy glory, ordered it
done, so that the fortress on one side and the tower on the other would
block the entrance to the river. her captaincy [to] Álvaro da Cunha, his
equestrian chief, and a person he trusted a lot; and because King João
died, there was no time to do it" (RESENDE, Garcia de. Crónica de D.
João II, 1545.),
The structure would only be started in 1514,
under the reign of Manuel I of Portugal (1495-1521), with Francisco de
Arruda as architect. It was located on a rocky outcrop in the waters of
the river, opposite the old beach of Belém, and was intended to replace
the old artillery ship, anchored in that stretch, from which the fleets
left for the Indies. Its works were in charge of Diogo Boitaca, who, at
the time, also directed the already advanced works of the neighboring
Monastery of Jerónimos.
Completed in 1520, its first mayor was
Gaspar de Paiva, appointed to the post the following year.
With
the evolution of means of attack and defense, the structure gradually
lost its original defensive function. Over the centuries it was used as
a customs register, telegraph signaling post and lighthouse. Its
magazines were used as dungeons for political prisoners during the reign
of Philip II of Spain (1580-1598), and later by João IV of Portugal
(1640-1656). The Archbishop of Braga and Primate of Spain, D. Sebastião
de Matos de Noronha (1586-1641), by coalition with Spain and facing D.
João IV, was arrested and sent to prison in the Tower of Belém.
It underwent several renovations over the centuries, mainly in the 18th
century, which favored the battlements, the bulwark balcony, the niche
of the Virgin, facing the river, and the cloister. The connotation of
the volumetric shape of the stone tower with a ship translates beauty,
originality and innovation.
Classified as a National Monument by
decree of January 10, 1907, it has been considered a World Heritage Site
by UNESCO since 1983. That same year, it was part of the XVII European
Exhibition of Art, Science and Culture.A four-story building with a height of 35 meters
is an example of the Manueline architectural style, typical of the
Renaissance Portugal, but almost lost now. In the XIX century, the
monument became an object of interest and pride of the Portuguese
romantics, a thorough restoration was carried out. In 1983, the
tower and the nearby Jeronimos Monastery of Jeronimos were declared
World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Currently, the tower is open to the
public.
The architectural characteristics of Francisco de Arruda, Diogo de
Arruda and together with those of the master Diogo de Boytac, resulted
in the inclusion of Mediterranean and Nordic late Gothic influences in
the Portuguese architectural panorama, thus becoming exponents of the
Manueline style in the architecture of then. The systematic use of
cylindrical volumes, recurrent in military rhetoric as a configuration
of architectural iconology. Recurrence in his works can be found through
hyper-realistic decoration, full of allusions to nature such as leaves
or animals and objects conceived by man, as well as representations of
heraldic symbology. Francisco de Arruda exalts the fundamental elements
of the Manueline style, a taste for pure, well-defined and global
volumes in terms of design, and emphasizes architecture, profuse
ornamental applications of a popular nature, rather than erudite ones,
with immediate registers. about the function of the building, or the
freedom obtained to transpose a new iconic discourse on the edges of the
constructions, all this makes the elocution of the magnificence of the
building emerge and contribute to an emblematic exhibition.
Francisco de Arruda's date of birth is unknown, it is known that he came
from a family of architects of recognized standing at the time, based in
Évora. Younger brother of Diogo de Arruda and father of Miguel de
Arruda, he was an architect and sculptor, at the service of the Kings of
Portugal, having been responsible for the layout and construction of the
Tower of São Vicente. He is responsible for the rehabilitation and
repair works of the fortifications of Moura, Mourão and Portel, but in
addition to repairing the walls, he inserts semicircular towers in the
castle, which are already a transitional posture from the
neuro-ballistic to the pyro-ballistic style. Built for D. Jaime, Duke of
Bragança, the Paços do Castelo de Portel, and the Chapel of São João
Baptista,[disambiguation necessary] this has a straight "front" wall,
two bulky "buttresses" cylindrical at the base and octagonal from there
to above, crowned by conical "pinnacles" of "torsos" preceded by a
corded frame. It later continues in 1512 at the Convent of Christ in
Tomar. Francisco leaves with Diogo for North Africa, to Safim and
Mazagão, in 1513, tasked with working on the stronghold of Azamor.
With the death of Diogo de Arruda in 1531, Francisco sentimentally
and progressively approached the humanist culture. His following works
show signs of Renaissance, or "proto" Renaissance, erudition. In 1547 he
ends his days of life. Without confirmation, he is still attributed with
the construction of Casa dos Bicos, in Lisbon, and the Bacalhoa Palace,
in its initial phase (1530) where two large cylindrical towers with a
bud roof are evident, similar to those of the Tower of São Vicente.
The monument reflects Islamic and Eastern influences, which
characterize the Manueline style and marks the end of the medieval
tradition of keep towers, rehearsing one of the first bulwarks for
artillery in the country (see fortresses).
Part of its beauty
resides in the exterior decoration, adorned with ropes and knots carved
in stone, open galleries, watchtowers in the Moorish style and
battlements in the form of shields decorated with armillary spheres, the
cross of the Order of Christ and naturalist elements, such as a
rhinoceros, alluding to navigation. The Gothic interior, below the
terrace, which served as an armory and prison, is very austere.
Its structure is made up of two main elements: the tower and the
bastion. In the angles of the terrace of the tower and the bastion,
stand out cylindrical watchtowers crowned by domes of buds, richly
decorated in stone masonry.
The quadrangular tower, of medieval
tradition, rises on five floors above the bastion, namely:
First
floor - Governor's Room;
Second floor - Room of the Kings, with
elliptical ceiling and stove decorated with half-spheres;
Third floor
- Audience Room;
Fourth floor - Chapel;
Fifth floor - Terrace of
the tower.
The nave of the polygonal bastion, ventilated by a
cloister, has 16 embrasures for grazing artillery fire. The embankment,
lined with battlements, constitutes a second line of fire, where the
sanctuary of Nossa Senhora do Bom Sucesso with the Child is located,
also known as the Virgin of Restelo for "Virgin of the Grapes".