The Vasco da Gama Tower ( pt, Torre Vasco da Gama, ) is a

lattice tower A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding vertical framework tower. This construction is widely used in transmission towers carrying high voltage electric power lines, in radio masts and towers (a self-radiating tower or as a support for ...

with skyscraper in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Parque das Nações The Parque das Nações (; en, Park of the Nations), colloquially known as Expo (as the site of the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition), is a ''freguesia'' (civil parish) of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Located in eastern Lisbon, Parque das Naçõ ...

, the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

, in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

. Built on the north bank of the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to e ...

river, it is named after the Portuguese explorer

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

(the first European to arrive in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

by sail, in 1498). The tower portion is the tallest structure in Lisbon.

History

The tower was built in 1998 for the Expo '98 World's Fair. At the base of the tower was a three-story building that served as the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

Pavilion during the Expo. While they were open, the tower was the tallest structure in Portugal open to the public (excluding bridges). The base of the building was to be leased for office space after the closing of the Expo, but never found tenants. Instead, it was used for one-off events, like the world premiere of the new

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

car in 2001. Both the observation deck and the restaurant were closed in October 2004. In 2006, the tower was climbed by

Alain Robert Alain Robert (born as Robert Alain Philippe on 7 August 1962) is a French rock climber and urban climber. Known as "the French Spider-Man" (after the comic character Spider-Man) or "the Human Spider", Robert is famous for his free solo climbi ...

, a solo

urban climber Buildering (also known as edificeering, urban climbing, structuring, skywalking, boulding, or stegophily) describes the act of climbing on the outside of buildings and other artificial structures. The word "buildering", sometimes misspelled bil ...

, who was sponsored by Optimus Telecommunications (a Portuguese mobile phone company) as part of a mobile marketing campaign. Parque Expo received permission to expand along the riverside in order to build a 20-floor, 178-room luxury hotel, a plan by Portuguese architect Nuno Leónidas. The base of the tower was demolished between July and September 2007, paving the way for the construction of the 5-star ''Myriad'' hotel, which opened in 2012. In 2018, the panoramic restaurant ''Fifty Seconds'' (by Martín Berasategui) opened in the space that was previously the observation deck. Within a year, it received its first

Michelin star The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

Architecture

The architects of the tower were Leonor Janeiro, Nick Jacobs and SOM (

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The fir ...

) and assembled by engineering company

Martifer Martifer SGPS, S.A. is a family group based in Oliveira de Frades, Portugal, with over 3,000 employees, focusing its activity on the metal construction and renewable energy areas. The company launched its first operations in 1990 in the metal ...

. The architects were inspired by the form of a

caravel The caravel (Portuguese: , ) is a small maneuverable sailing ship used in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave it speed and the capacity for sailing w ...

and its sail, supported by fundamental volumes at its base. This base, enters the river like the bow of the boat, supported by pillars forming a terrace. This area is occupied by exposition spaces and vestibule with access to panoramic elevators that intersperse the tower to the restaurant and viewing platform. The tower is defined by a vertical "mast" and a metallic, tubular "sail", surmounted by a platform forming a "crow's nest", corresponding to the rotating restaurant and visitors viewing area.

References

Notes

Sources

External links