WORLD HERITAGE
TOWER OF ST. VINCENT
The Tower of St. Vincent is an emblematic element of Lisbon.
ART HISTORIAN
It was built to protect the city from invaders coming through the Tagus.
Invaders would get caught in the crossfire with the Old Tower,
known as Tower of St. Sebastian,
thus replacing the positioning of the St. Christopher Ship
an enormous warship with a thousand barrels,
where 70 large bombards and 200 smaller ones had been installed.
In fact, the Tower acted as a warship of concrete.
It is located in the middle of the river,
200 meter from the edge of Restelo.
With the Towers of Cascais
and St. Vincent and the Old Tower, also known as Tower of St. Sebastian,
the mouth of the Tagus River would supposedly be protected
from the invasion of pirates.
The truth is, the tower never worked
as an effective defense mechanism.
Circa 1550, around 1554 or so,
a new and definite defense system was being built:
São Julião da Barra Fort,
across from Bugio island.
This turned the Tower of St. Vincent
into some sort of emblem,
a frontispiece welcoming visitors
coming in through the Tagus.
These three elements at the mouth of the river
are significant.
The Tower of St. Sebastian: for the patron saint of plague victims.
The large warship, or the Warship of St. Christopher:
a giant who crossed rivers carrying Jesus on his back,
thus the patron saint of travelers.
And the Tower of St. Vincent, also known as Belém Tower,
after the patron saint of Lisbon.
We're at the center of the Tower of St. Vincent.
It was effectively operated from here.
Despite being an imposing tower,
famous for its appearance,
it wasn't precisely an invincible piece of architecture.
Actually, this lower area would have sufficed.
Positioned by the sea, cannons could be fired
close to the water
and strike ships at their most vulnerable base.
All these openings for the cannons
made this tower very modern for its time.
It's a transitional fortress, because it uses two elements:
the traditional fortress tower and this modern area here
which we now call a bunker.
These cannons would crossfire with the Old Tower,
the Tower of St. Sebastian.
These three cannons we see now
are pointed at the Tower of St. Sebastian.
The others pointed at the coastline and fired closer to the water,
thus protecting the city from approaching enemies.
Were it facing the Old Tower,
there would be a 45-degree opening of unprotected coastline,
which would be unforgivable.
The positioning of the tower was planned extremely well
considering the role it would play.
As we can see, the bunker has a very low ceiling,
the arcs are very close to the ground.
This created problems if cannons were to be used.
Where would the smoke go?
Chimneys were then created
to vent out the smoke from cannons.
Even though the tower was never used for defense,
it served other purposes.
It was often used as an unforgiving prison.
It was a prison feared by many,
considering the health risks it posed.
People were placed in these pits.
These were inhumane conditions,
for the water was usually waist-high.
This is the true Belém Tower.
This is the most ancient part of the building.
It served no defensive purposes.
It was purely designed as an ostentation piece,
as a visual representation of the power of the king.
Here we see the coat of arms of Portugal,
with armillary spheres on either side,
and verandas displaying the Maltese Cross.
These are all symbolic of King Manuel I of Portugal.
Actually, it was the home of the Governor,
it was representative of an imposing power.
Architecturally speaking,
it is very similar to other medieval towers.
For example, it looks like the Castle of Beja
or the Estremoz Castle.
They have the same design, with verandas and machicolations,
as we can see here at the Tower of St. Vincent.
In other words, we are standing before a medieval building
placed atop of a modern building.
The King's Hall is the heart of the building,
where governors would rule,
where he spent his time inside the tower.
The first governor most likely occupied this tower in 1517,
even though the tower was yet unfinished.
His name was Gaspar de Paiva.
He had been the commander of some ships and served in India.
He had been a very accomplished commander.
However, the designer of this magnificent building
was a Manueline architect.
For many years, the design was attributed to Daniel Góis.
The chronicler of King John II had mentioned him by name,
saying he designed it alongside King John II
to create this defense system.
The truth is that the tower was designed and conceived
by Francisco de Arruda.
These domes we see
around the perimeter of the tower,
could they be relevant to the operation of the tower?
We could have never imagined
Portugal would have such major accomplishments.
We had every reason to be celebrating.
Namely on the East,
when back in 1515
Afonso de Albuquerque took the Strait of Hormuz once again.
It was the great city of the Persian Gulf.
That city was crucial for the expansion of our Empire.
Hormuz was the largest city in the region.
A series of routes led to it,
both the Middle East Route and the Silk Route.
Marco Polo had been in the city at least twice.
It was densely populated.
It was truly a Cosmopolitan town.
Conquering Hormuz made Portugal famous worldwide.
It's interesting to note that most mosques,
on either side of the Strait of Hormuz
had domes shaped like these.
We are aware of it because of a world map on the Miller Atlas
kept at the National Library of Paris
a map painted in 1519 by António de Holanda,
shows Hormuz with domes exactly like these.
We now know that the Tower of St. Vincent had such exotic domes,
which looked so strange, with budding fire elements,
was symbolic
of the taking of the Strait of Hormuz.
On the horizon, coming to Lisbon,
we would see a large evil beast,
this strange and exotic thing nobody had ever seen
in Europe since the Roman Empire.
It was something we had only seen in books
by Pliny the Elder and Strabo.
They both had mentioned something they named "rhinoceros."
In 1514,
Afonso de Albuquerque, the Governor of India,
received a gift from the King of Cambay.
It was a "large beast," as they referred to it then.
It was a rhinoceros. Not knowing what to do with the animal,
Afonso de Albuquerque decided to ship it to Lisbon.
King Manuel I didn't know what to do with it either.
He sent it as a symbolic gift to be delivered by the Ambassador
who was taking one of the princes to meet the Pope in 1514.
The rhinoceros was intended as a compliment, an ostentatious display.
Nothing was gratuitous. It was proof that
Portugal had ultimately secured a place in the East
and consequently taken Christianity to the region.
After spending three days on an islet by Marseilles,
the expedition was caught in a storm within the Gulf of Genoa,
which caused the animal to drown.
Still, it made it to Rome.
The animal was rescued from the ocean,
stuffed and presented to the Pope.
Another way this rhino made history,
was precisely here at the Tower.
A dome was being built when the animal reached Lisbon.
The image of the animal was then sculpted in stone.
Other sources were paintings available to private collectors.
such as All the King's Glories about Manuel I,
the Book of Hours of the Countess of Bertiandos, the Miller Atlas itself,
all of which painted by António de Holanda.
ART HISTORIAN
It was ultimately made famous in Europe
thanks to another artist: Albrecht Dürer,
whose engraving made it famous worldwide.
The truth is that the tower never served any military purpose.
It was only a celebratory monument.
It was unveiled in 1521,
when Beatrice left to marry Charles III,
Duke of Savoy.
The Tower of St. Vincent is now emblematic of Lisbon,
but it is also a European symbol,
a worldwide monument along the Leaning Tower of Pisa,
the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building.
It is part of our culture,
thus being considered in 1983 a World Heritage Site.
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