Belem is a district of Lisbon located to the cities West and known as the museum district. It is also the location from where the ships departed to trade with the Orient and from where Portugal built its colonial empire during Europe’s Age of Discovery (1400 – 1650).
We traveled by train. There is a BIG graffiti problem all along the track AND on the carriages. On our first early morning train we could not see outside because the windows were painted. Locations with “open” windows were already occupied by experienced commuters. We avoided rush hour next days.
The first monument we visited was dedicated to Portugal’s discoverers and seafarers. The first version of the monument was built for the 1940 world expo. The current version was built in 1960 in commemoration of the fifth centennial of the death of “Henri the Navigator” the first statue on the bow of the “ship”.
Henry, the fourth child of Portuguese king John I, was responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa, the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, and the search for new routes.
The second figures are of Royal descend, but the third figure is Vasco Dagama, the first European to reach India by sea. He landed in Calicut in May 1498. His involvement in developing Portuguese – Indian relations was short lived. Because of Da Gama’s atrocities he was sidelined by the Portuguese crown for two decades before he could return to India were he attracted malaria and died in 1524.
The spice trade boosted the economy of the Portuguese empire and it would take almost a century before Dutch and British naval forces could challenge the Portuguese monopoly along the “Cape route”.
The construction of the monestary (L) and the church (R) started in 1501 and took almost 100 year to complete. It was funded by a 5% tax on the spice trade.
In 2005 the European parliament approved a new European Constitution that was to replace the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty. The constitution required ratification by ALL member states. 18 States out of 27 accepted the document. France and the Netherlands rejected whereafter the remaining 7 countries canceled or never held a referendum since unanimity was no longer possible.
After this debacle the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty were modified and merged into the Lisbon Treaty, signed in the Jeronimos Monestary and implemented in 2009. A “Constitution” requires ratification by “public vote”, a “Treaty” doesn’t require “public vote”. This is a typical example of European style “democracy”.
The Maritime Museum is housed in the Monestary and should be interesting for us, sailors. After buying a ticket at the main entrance and wandering this huge complex staring at broken stones vaguely resembling 2000 year old pillars – tombstones and headless statues, often missing arms or legs or all, we realised that we were in the wrong wing of the building. The maritime museum was in the West-wing and has its own entrance and ticket office, now closed of course.
The museum ticket did however give access to the monasteries main church and cloister.
After seeing so much beauty it was time for the famous local snack.
Another must see is the Tower of Belem, the most picturesque of the three towers built in the 16th century for Lisbon’s defences. (see also Cascais).
Tomorrow we go to Lisboa.