Monument to the Discoveries Figures 2026: Who the 33 Are

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The Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the Monument to the Discoveries, is shaped like the prow of a caravel. Henry the Navigator stands at the front, nine metres tall. Behind him, sixteen figures climb each side of the ramp, seven metres each: navigators, kings, missionaries, a mapmaker, a mathematician, a painter, a poet, and one woman.

The names below follow the list on Wikipedia, read from the land end towards the river. The construction facts come from the monument's own history page.

The quick answer

There are 33 figures: Henry the Navigator at the prow and 16 on each side. The east side is mostly sailors (Vasco da Gama, Cabral, Magellan, Dias, Diogo Cão) plus Afonso V and Francis Xavier. The west side holds Henry's family (Philippa of Lancaster, Pedro, Fernando), Camões, the painter Nuno Gonçalves and the mathematician Pedro Nunes. The statues date from 1960; the 1940 original was plaster.

Close view of the carved figures at the prow, Henry the Navigator in front holding a model ship — Henry at the prow. Each figure holds an object that says who they are.

Who are the figures on the Monument to the Discoveries?

Henry the Navigator plus 32 people from Portugal's Age of Discovery, 16 on each side: navigators, royals, missionaries, chroniclers, scientists and artists.

The monument's own history page sorts them as navigators, cartographers, warriors, colonisers, missionaries, chroniclers and artists, each carved with a symbol that hints at who they are. Sailors hold ropes, swords or a sextant. The missionaries carry crosses. Camões holds his book; the painter holds a palette.

Read them from the land end: the figures furthest from the river are royalty, and the closer to Henry you get, the more famous the voyage. The faces are idealised. Nobody in 1960 knew what most of these people looked like.

Who is on the east side of the Padrão?

Mostly the sea captains: Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan, Bartolomeu Dias and Diogo Cão, led from the back by King Afonso V.

The east side faces downtown Lisbon and the 25 de Abril Bridge. From the land end towards Henry:

#	Figure	Known for
1	King Afonso V	King who backed the African voyages
2	Vasco da Gama	First sea route from Europe to India, 1498
3	Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia	Navigator on the African coast
4	Pedro Álvares Cabral	Reached Brazil, 1500
5	Ferdinand Magellan	Led the first voyage around the world
6	Nicolau Coelho	Captain on da Gama's first voyage
7	Gaspar Corte-Real	Sailed to Newfoundland
8	Martim Afonso de Sousa	Navigator, early colony in Brazil
9	João de Barros	Historian of Portuguese Asia
10	Estêvão da Gama	Sea captain
11	Bartolomeu Dias	First to round the Cape of Good Hope
12	Diogo Cão	First European to reach the Congo River
13	António de Abreu	Navigator in the Spice Islands
14	Afonso de Albuquerque	Governor of Portuguese India
15	St Francis Xavier	Jesuit missionary in Asia
16	Cristóvão da Gama	Captain, Vasco da Gama's son

The figures on one side of the monument's prow against a clear blue sky — From the square, the names are hard to read. Count from the land end.

Half an hour at the foot of the monument with a guide who names the figures for you, eight people at most.

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Who is on the west side of the Padrão?

Henry's family, the scholars and the artists: Philippa of Lancaster, Prince Pedro, Camões, Nuno Gonçalves, Pedro Nunes, plus navigators Gil Eanes and Zarco.

The west side faces Belém Tower. From the land end towards Henry:

#	Figure	Known for
1	Prince Pedro, Duke of Coimbra	Henry's brother, regent of Portugal
2	Queen Philippa of Lancaster	Henry's mother, the only woman
3	Fernão Mendes Pinto	Traveller and writer in Asia
4	Frei Gonçalo de Carvalho	Dominican missionary
5	Frei Henrique de Coimbra	Franciscan who said the first Mass in Brazil
6	Luís de Camões	Poet of The Lusiads
7	Nuno Gonçalves	Painter
8	Gomes Eanes de Zurara	Chronicler of the voyages
9	Pero da Covilhã	Overland traveller to India and Ethiopia
10	Jácome de Maiorca	Cartographer
11	Pedro Escobar	Pilot
12	Pedro Nunes	Mathematician and cosmographer
13	Pero de Alenquer	Pilot for Dias and da Gama
14	Gil Eanes	Sailed past Cape Bojador, 1434
15	João Gonçalves Zarco	Claimed Madeira
16	Prince Fernando the Holy	Henry's brother, died a captive in Fez

Why is Henry the Navigator at the front of the monument?

The 1960 monument was built for the 500th anniversary of his death in 1460. He stands at the prow, nine metres tall, holding a model carrack.

Infante Dom Henrique, son of King João I and Philippa of Lancaster, never sailed on the voyages himself. He organised and funded them from the Algarve in the first half of the 15th century, which is why the monument casts him as the man who launched everything behind him.

The main inscription on the land side reads, in Portuguese, To Infante Dom Henrique and the Portuguese who discovered the sea routes. The other side marks the fifth centenary of his death, 1460 to 1960.

Close portrait of the carved figure of Henry the Navigator, hooded, holding a model ship — Henry, nine metres of Sintra limestone. The side figures are seven metres each.

Is Philippa of Lancaster the only woman on the Padrão?

Yes. Queen Philippa, Henry's English-born mother, is the only woman among the 33 figures, second from the land end on the west side.

Philippa was the daughter of John of Gaunt and married King João I in 1387, sealing the alliance between England and Portugal. Three of her sons are on the monument: Henry at the prow, Pedro beside her and Fernando the Holy at the front of the west side. She sits among her family rather than among the sailors, which is the clue to finding her.

Belém Half-Day: Jerónimos Ticket & Pastel Tasting

Before the figures, the tomb: the Jerónimos tour takes you to Vasco da Gama's resting place, then 20 minutes at the Padrão to find him again in stone.

★ 5.0 · 3 hours · from $71

Explore the Belém half-day with Jerónimos Tour details

When was the Monument to the Discoveries built, and who designed it?

It was first built in 1940 as a temporary plaster structure, demolished by 1943, and rebuilt in stone from 1958 to 1960. Architect Cottinelli Telmo, sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida.

1940: José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo and Leopoldo de Almeida design a temporary version for the Portuguese World Exhibition, with a light iron and cement frame and statues of plaster and burlap.
1943: the plaster version comes down.
1958 to 1960: rebuilt for the Henry centenary in concrete faced with rose-tinted Leiria stone, with statues in Sintra limestone. Cottinelli Telmo had died in 1948, so António Pardal Monteiro oversaw the build. Inaugurated on 9 August 1960.
1985: the interior opens as a cultural centre with the viewpoint, an auditorium and exhibition rooms.

The finished monument is 56 metres high, 20 metres wide and 46 metres long, with foundations 20 metres deep. Since 2003 it has been run by EGEAC, the Lisbon city council's culture company.

The full prow of the monument from below, the figures climbing towards Henry, under a blue sky with clouds — The 1960 stone version. The 1940 original looked the same but was plaster.

Why was the Padrão built under the Estado Novo?

Both versions were commissioned by Salazar's Estado Novo regime, and the monument presents the Discoveries in the heroic, romanticised way that regime promoted.

The 1940 exhibition was the regime's showcase of national history, and the 1960 rebuild came during the colonial wars that started a year later. Historians read the monument in that light; it shows explorers and missionaries and leaves out the people they met, traded with and enslaved.

The exhibitions inside have looked at the monument itself in recent years. The 2026 show, PADRÃO. House-Obsession, collects the ways the Padrão has been pictured and reused since 1940, with scientific advice from Ellen W. Sapega of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A guided Belém walk with pastéis that puts the monument in its context, in two hours, at the lowest price here.

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What is the wind rose in front of the Monument to the Discoveries?

A 50-metre compass rose set in the pavement, a gift from South Africa in 1960, with a 14-metre world map at its centre showing the routes of the Portuguese voyages.

Designed by the architect Luís Cristino da Silva, it is laid in different limestones, including lioz, the cream stone found around Lisbon. The map marks the voyages with their dates, so you can trace da Gama to India or Cabral to Brazil with your feet. It is free and open at any hour.

The best view of it is from the terrace, 42 steps above the lift. Our Padrão tickets guide has the prices and hours for going up.

The wind rose and world map in front of the Padrão, seen from above — The map of the voyages inside the wind rose. Each route carries its year.

Frequently asked questions

How many figures are on the Monument to the Discoveries?

33: Henry the Navigator at the prow, and 16 figures on each side of the ramp.

Who is the woman on the Padrão dos Descobrimentos?

Queen Philippa of Lancaster, Henry the Navigator's English-born mother. She is the only woman among the 33 figures, on the west side near the land end.

Is Vasco da Gama on the Monument to the Discoveries?

Yes, second from the land end on the east side, the side facing the 25 de Abril Bridge. His tomb is across the road in the Jerónimos Monastery church.

Is the Monument to the Discoveries from 1940 or 1960?

Both. A plaster version stood for the 1940 Portuguese World Exhibition and was pulled down by 1943. The stone monument you see today was built from 1958 and inaugurated on 9 August 1960.

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