Landmark Europe
Belém Tower
Belém Tower is a white stone tower by a river in Lisbon, Portugal. It has little round lookouts with domes, and a carving of a rhinoceros!
Belém Tower is a fortress tower on the bank of the Tagus River in Lisbon, Portugal. It was built from 1514 to about 1519 to guard the way into the city's port. Made of white limestone, it is decorated with carved stone ropes, knots and other shapes.
The Belém Tower, begun in 1514 and virtually completed by 1519, was designed by the fortification specialist Francisco de Arruda to defend the entrance to Lisbon on the Tagus. A square, four-floor tower joined to a low six-sided bastion, it is built of white Lioz limestone and richly carved in the Manueline style; with the nearby Jerónimos Monastery it has been a World Heritage Site since 1983.
Photo: Rehman Abubakr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Belém Tower
Belém Tower is in Lisbon, a city in Portugal. It stands by a big river called the Tagus.
It is made of white stone and has lots of carvings.
Belém Tower stands on the bank of the Tagus River in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, at the entrance to the city's port. UNESCO says it also served to defend the port.
The tower and the nearby Jerónimos Monastery are known together as the complex of Belém. Both have been National Monuments of Portugal since 1907 and a World Heritage Site since 1983.
UNESCO places the Tower of Belém on the shore of the Tagus at the entrance to the port of Lisbon, and lists it with the Monastery of the Hieronymites as one serial World Heritage property of 2.66 ha, inscribed in 1983. Its managers note that both have been classified as National Monuments since 1907.
The tower's official site calls it an architectural icon of the reign of King Manuel I, from a time when Portugal was establishing itself as a global power.
- Where
- bank of the Tagus River, Lisbon, Portugal
- Built
- begun 1514, virtually completed by 1519
- Designer
- Francisco de Arruda
- World Heritage
- inscribed 1983, with the Jerónimos Monastery
A fortress for the river
Long ago, many ships sailed into Lisbon. The tower was built to guard the river.
Builders worked on it for about five years.
In 1514, work began on the tower. King Manuel I had decided to carry on an earlier king's plan to protect the river mouth, and he called Francisco de Arruda, an expert in building forts, to Lisbon.
Arruda built the tower on a rocky outcrop in the river, and it was almost finished by 1519. Back then it stood about 200 to 250 meters from the shore, with water all around.
The official history says work began in 1514, as King Manuel I pursued King João II's plan to protect the Tagus estuary. He summoned Francisco de Arruda, one of the best-known fortification specialists of his time, who worked with considerable freedom on the design. Built on a basalt outcrop west of Praia do Restelo, the tower was virtually completed by 1519.
In the 16th century it stood about 200 to 250 m from the shoreline, surrounded by water. As the river silted up, and probably also because the tower itself acted as a spur, it was practically joined to the land by the 19th century.
A tower and a bastion
The building has two parts. One is a tall square tower. The other is a low, six-sided part in front, called a bastion.
Small round lookouts with stone domes sit on the corners.
Belém Tower has two parts. The tall square tower has four floors, joined by a spiral staircase. In front of it is a low six-sided bastion with walls that slope down to the water. Everything is built of white Lioz limestone.
Small corner turrets called bartizans are topped with ribbed domes. Visitors reach the bastion over a footbridge and a small drawbridge.
The official site describes two structures: a medieval-style keep and a modern bastion. The bastion has a hexagonal plan, a low profile and walls sloping toward the waterline, and is reached by a small drawbridge leading to a round-arched doorway; like the rest of the building, it is of white Lioz limestone.
The square tower is divided into four floors linked by a spiral staircase. On its south side, facing the river, a second-floor balcony has a seven-bay arcade of round arches. UNESCO notes that the watchtowers are capped with ribbed cupolas inspired by Islamic architecture.
Ropes, knots and a rhinoceros
Look closely at the stone. Carvers made ropes and knots out of stone, all around the building!
There is even a stone rhinoceros. A real rhinoceros came to Lisbon while the tower was being built.
The tower is decorated in the Manueline style, with stone ropes that wrap around the building and end in knots, carved armillary spheres (ring models of the sky) and shapes from nature.
At the base of one corner turret is a stone rhinoceros. A real Indian rhinoceros belonging to King Manuel I arrived in Lisbon in May 1515, while the tower was being built. The German artist Albrecht Dürer drew it that same year from written descriptions.
The official site points to Manueline features: stone cables encircling the building and ending in knots, armillary spheres and naturalistic motifs, along with the eastern influences in the domed cupolas of the bartizans that mark Arruda's style.
A stone rhinoceros sits at the base of the bartizan on the western side of the bastion. King Manuel I's Indian rhinoceros, the first seen in Europe since the 3rd century according to the site, reached Lisbon in May 1515 after a four-month voyage, while the tower was under construction; Albrecht Dürer depicted it in 1515 from written accounts.
- Floors in the tower
- 4
- Stone
- white Lioz limestone
- Rhinoceros carving
- at the base of a bartizan on the western side of the bastion
By the Tagus
In this photo, the white tower shines in the sun. Can you find the wooden bridge that leads to the door?
This photo was taken on 2 April 2019. It shows the tall square tower and the low bastion, with domed turrets on the corners and pointed stone battlements along the top. A wooden footbridge leads across the water to the entrance.
Behind the tower you can see the river and the far shore.
The photograph (2 April 2019, by Rehman Abubakr) shows the square tower and the bastion with its domed bartizans and crenellations, the footbridge leading to the entrance, and the Tagus with its far bank beyond.
The official history says that in 1846 Queen Maria II ordered works that restored much of the tower's original appearance, including the crenellations and the bastion's balcony; UNESCO says restorations have strictly respected the original materials and techniques.
Amazing facts
-
There is a rhinoceros carved in stone on this tower!
A stone rhinoceros sits at the base of one of the tower's corner turrets. It recalls a real rhinoceros that arrived in Lisbon in 1515.
The stone rhinoceros at the base of the western bartizan recalls King Manuel I's Indian rhinoceros, which reached Lisbon in May 1515 while the tower was under construction.
-
Long ago, this tower stood out in the river, with water all around!
In the 1500s the tower stood about 200 to 250 meters from the shore. Now it is almost joined to the land.
In the 16th century the tower stood some 200 to 250 m from the shoreline; silting of the Tagus had practically joined it to the land by the 19th century.
-
The stone looks like rope tied in knots!
Stone ropes wrap around the building and end in carved knots, a feature of the Manueline style.
Stone cables encircling the building and ending in knots are among the tower's Manueline elements, with armillary spheres and naturalistic motifs.
Words to know
- fortress
- a strong building made to protect a place from attack
- bastion
- a strong, low part of a fortress that sticks out from the main walls
- bartizan
- a small turret that juts out from the corner of a wall or tower
- limestone
- a kind of rock often used for building, usually pale in color
- Manueline
- a richly decorated Portuguese building style named after King Manuel I
- armillary sphere
- a model of the sky made of rings, often used as a symbol in Portugal
Discovery challenge
-
Which animal is carved in stone on the tower?
Which animal is carved at the base of one of the tower's corner turrets?
Which animal, brought to Lisbon in 1515, is carved at the base of the western bartizan?
- A rhinoceros
- A dolphin
- A bear
Show the answer
A rhinoceros
A rhinoceros!
A rhinoceros.
King Manuel I's Indian rhinoceros.
-
Which river does the tower stand by?
On which river does Belém Tower stand?
Which river's entrance to the port of Lisbon was the tower built to guard?
- The Tagus
- The Seine
- The Danube
Show the answer
The Tagus
The Tagus River!
The Tagus, in Lisbon.
The Tagus.
-
What was the tower built to do?
What job was Belém Tower built for?
According to UNESCO, what did the tower serve to do besides commemorating Vasco da Gama's expedition?
- Defend the port
- Store grain
- Hold a clock
Show the answer
Defend the port
To guard the river and the port!
To defend the port of Lisbon.
To defend the port of Lisbon.
-
What color is the stone of the tower?
What stone is Belém Tower built of?
Which stone, named in the official history, is the whole structure built of?
- White limestone
- Red brick
- Black granite
Show the answer
White limestone
White stone!
White limestone.
White Lioz limestone.
-
How many floors does the tall tower have?
How many floors is the square tower divided into?
Into how many floors, linked by a spiral staircase, is the keep divided?
- 4
- 2
- 20
Show the answer
4
Four floors!
Four.
Four.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain why a city on a river might build a tower at the entrance to its port.
- Describe the Manueline style: stone ropes, knots, armillary spheres and nature shapes.
- Explain how silt carried by a river can change a shoreline over hundreds of years.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- The tower once stood in the water and is now almost on land. How can a river change the land around it?
- Albrecht Dürer drew the rhinoceros without seeing it, from written descriptions. How would you draw an animal you have never seen?
- Why might builders decorate a fortress so beautifully?
Try at home or in class
- Draw an animal only from a friend's spoken description, then compare it with a photo, like Dürer's rhinoceros.
- Twist string or play dough into ropes and knots and use them to decorate a cardboard tower.
Key vocabulary: fortress, bastion, bartizan, limestone, Manueline, armillary sphere
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Belém Tower , Mosteiro dos Jerónimos e Torre de Belém (Museus e Monumentos de Portugal)
- Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon (World Heritage List) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- File:Belem Tower - April 2019 (2).jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.