Page 105 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Portugal

The ornate arches of the cloisters at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

BELÉM

Perched as it is at the mouth of the Tagus river,
where the caravels launched their voyages, Belém
is inextricably linked with Portugal’s golden Age
of Discovery. When Manuel I came to power in
1495 he reaped the profits of those heady days of
expansion, using it to build grandiose monuments
and churches that mirrored the spirit of the time.
Two of the finest examples of this exuberant and
exotic Manueline style of architecture are the
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and the Torre de Belém.
Following the earthquake of 1775, José I
installed his court in a series of tents in Belém’s
hills, the site of the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda,
where it would remain for nearly three decades.
This move attracted commerce to the area and
Belém continued to thrive. The 19th-century
main street has largely resisted modernization,
and the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém, celebrated
as the birthplace of Lisbon’s iconic custard tart,
can still be visited at its original site.
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