Monument to the Discoveries - Cultural Center of Discovery

The Cultural Center of Discoveries (in portuguese, Centro cultural das Descobertas) open with this new name in 1985, forty five years after being built. Refurbished, now it has a viewpoint, auditorium and exhibition rooms, thanks to the design project of the architect Fernando Ramalho. However, the history of the cultural center began much earlier...

In 1940, Cottineli Telmo (architect) and Leopoldo de Almeida (sculptor) in cooperation, were the authors of a sculpture made for the exhibition Exposição do Mundo Português, they called it the Padrão dos Descobrimentos.

In the year 1960, the monument is rebuilt and suffers changes to display the silhouette of an imposing caravel with statues of the greatest Portuguese navigators. This is our truly sincere homage as People to the age of Portuguese Discoveries and its mentor, the Infant D. Henrique.

At the entrance to the cultural center, visitors will find the Compass Card. If you can't see it, try to look right beneath your feet: drawn on the ground marble, the Compass Card has 50 meters diameter and in the center there's a 14 meters wide planisphere. Impossible to miss it, right? In the interior, lie the rooms of temporary exhibitions and the elevator that gives access to the viewpoint on top. The 56 meters above the ground level provide a fantastic view over one of the main historic areas in Lisbon.

To every Portuguese, the Cultural Center of Discoveries, was, is, and always will be our Padrão dos Descobrimentos¹.

Translation references

1. Monument to Discoveries