Belém Tower

Inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the Tower of Belém (or Tower of St. Vincent) is an icon of Portugal’s cultural heritage spread across the world. It is one of the architectural elements punctuating the cityscape of Lisbon’s monumental riverside area of Ajuda-Belém. Built to perpetuate the memory of Lisbon’s Patron Saint, St. Vincent, the Tower was part of a tripartite defence system as it stood between the bulwark of Cascais and the fortress of S. Sebastião da Caparica on the opposite bank of the river. The Tower boasts a typical Manueline decoration with twisted ropes encircling the building and ending in elegant knots, armillary spheres, crosses of the Order of Christ and naturalistic elements.