The fifty-meter concrete structure, commemorating people who played a significant role during the great geographical discoveries, is located in Santa Maria de Belém, the neighborhood of Lisbon. The Monument to the Discoveries was erected in 1960 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator. The statues commemorating such figures as Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, Bartolomeu Dias, as well as the 15th and 16th century navigators, missionaries, chroniclers and rulers were placed on a caravel-shaped monument. The first, makeshift version of the monument was created twenty years earlier for a world exhibition. The present version has an observation deck, on the square at the foot of the monument visitors can admire a mosaic with a wind rose and a map.
