The Padrão dos Descobrimentos: Colonial Heritage in Urban Space

Abstract

This text analyses the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries), situated on the banks of the River Tagus in Lisbon, as a political object of memory that constructs a specific national narrative. Originally built of wood in 1940 for the Portuguese World Exhibition, under Salazar’s Estado Novo dictatorship, and rebuilt in concrete in 1960, the monument celebrates the central figures of Portuguese maritime expansion. The analysis argues that the name “Discoveries” and the depiction of national heroes systematically obscure colonial violence, slavery and the perspectives of colonised peoples. This work also aims to examine how contemporary debates around colonial heritage challenge traditional forms of commemoration and question the role of public monuments in shaping collective understandings of history. By contrasting the monument’s official narrative with counter- memory initiatives, such as Kiluanji Kia Henda’s project for a memorial to the victims of slavery, the text highlights the tension between the glorification of the imperial past and the contemporary need to confront the shadows of that legacy. Lisbon’s urban space remains a site of contention where official memory omits the reality of exploitation, perpetuating a silence that the Portuguese government struggles to break. Keywords: Monument to the Discoveries, Memory, Colonial, Public Space, Lisbon, Portugal