The restoration work at the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, recently completed, focused on enhancing visitor conditions, reception quality, and amenities, specifically through the renovation of restroom facilities to accommodate individuals with reduced mobility, as announced today.
Additionally, the acoustic ceilings in the exhibition hall were rehabilitated.
The Padrão dos Descobrimentos will now welcome visitors daily from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
On December 11 of the previous year, EGEAC had announced the monument’s closure for approximately three months for renovations costing around 150,000 euros.
The process to classify the Padrão dos Descobrimentos has been underway since June 2023.
In February 2021, the Fórum Cidadania LX submitted a request for the monument’s classification. This process moved forward in June the following year when the Cultural Heritage Department of the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage proposed the classification of the building and its surrounding pavement.
The Padrão dos Descobrimentos was already part of the Special Protection Zone (ZEP) of the Jerónimos Monastery and the ZEP of the Museum of Popular Art.
Located by the Tagus River, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos was designed by architect Cottinelli Telmo and sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida for the Portuguese World Exhibition in 1940, intended as a temporary structure. It was demolished in 1943.
“The idea to rebuild the monument emerged during the dismantling of the exhibition’s buildings and the planning of the area’s new urban layout. This idea, supported by the Minister of Public Works, Duarte Pacheco, faced resistance from Cottinelli Telmo and was abandoned after the minister’s death in 1943,” states the entry about the Padrão on the DGPC’s website.
In 1960, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos was reconstructed using concrete and rose stone from Leiria, with sculptures carved from Sintra limestone.
