The Rua Augusta Arch (Portuguese: ''Arco da Rua Augusta'') is a stone, memorial arch-like, historical building and

visitor attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, on the ''

Praça do Comércio The Praça do Comércio (; ) is a large, harbour-facing plaza in Portugal's capital, Lisbon, and is one of the largest in Portugal, with an area of 175 by 175 m (574 by 574 ft), that is, 30,600 m2 (329,000 ft2). Facing the Tagus () to the South, ...

''. It was built to commemorate the city's reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake. It has six columns (some 11 m high) and is adorned with statues of various historical figures. Significant height from the arch crown to the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

imparts an appearance of heaviness to the structure. The associated space is filled with the

coat of arms of Portugal The coat of arms of Portugal also referred, in Portugal, as the ''quinas'' are the main heraldic insignia of Portugal. They are used by the Portuguese Armed Forces, military and the Government of Portugal, government, including the courts. Ther ...

. The allegorical group at the top, made by French sculptor Célestin Anatole Calmels, represents Glory rewarding Valor and Genius. Originally designed as a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

, the building was ultimately transformed into an elaborate arch after more than a century.

Features

Because of the top cornice's great height (over ), the figures above it had to be made colossal. The female allegory of Glory, which is dressed in

peplos A peplos () is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by , during the late Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down ab ...

and measures , stands on a three-step throne and holds two crowns. Valor is personified by an

amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, partially covered with

chlamys The chlamys (; genitive: ) was a type of ancient Greek cloak. It was worn by men for military and hunting purposes during the Classical, Hellenistic and later periods. By the time of the Byzantine Empire it was part of the state costume of the ...

and wearing a high-crested helmet with dragon patterns, which were the symbols of the

House of Braganza The Most Serene House of Braganza (), also known as the Brigantine dynasty (''dinastia Brigantina''), is a dynasty of emperors, kings, princes, and dukes of Portuguese people, Portuguese origin which reigned in Europe and the Americas. The hous ...

. Her left hand holds the parazonium, with a trophy of flags behind. The Genius encompasses a statue of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

behind his left arm. On his left side are the attributes of writing and arts. The four statues over the columns, made by Victor Bastos, represent

Nuno Alvares Pereira Nuno can refer to *Nuno (given name) :*Nuno Espírito Santo Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo (born 25 January 1974), known as Nuno Espírito Santo or simply Nuno, is a Portuguese-São Toméan Manager (association football), football manag ...

and Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal on the right, and

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

and Viriatus on the left. The two recumbent figures represent the rivers

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

and

Douro The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish Soria Province, province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern par ...

. The arch holds these figures to represent Portuguese history and show their dominance by incorporating a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

, as they were victoriously rebuilding the city from the damages. It appeared as the arch through which the Lilliputians wheeled

Lemuel Gulliver Lemuel Gulliver () is the fictional protagonist and narrator of ''Gulliver's Travels'', a novel written by Jonathan Swift, first published in 1726. In ''Gulliver's Travels'' According to Swift's novel, Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire c. ...

in the 1996 miniseries ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...

''.

References

{{Lisbon landmarks Buildings and structures completed in 1873 Monuments and memorials in Lisbon Triumphal arches in Portugal Tourist attractions in Lisbon

Features

See also

References