Statues - Hither & Thither

 

Description

Stone, triumphal arch-like building built to commemorate Lisbon's reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.

The allegorical group at the top, made by French sculptor Célestin Anatole Calmels, represents Glory crowning Valor and Genius (A Glória coroando o Génio e o Valor). Because of the top cornice's great height (over 30 m [100 feet]), the figures above it had to be made colossal. The female allegory of Glory, which is dressed in peplos and measures 7 m [23 ft.], stands on a three-step throne and holds two crowns. Valor is personified by an amazon, partially covered with chlamys and wearing a high-crested helmet with dragon patterns, which were the symbols of the House of Braganza. her left hand holds the parazonium, with a trophy of flags behind. The Genius encompasses a statue of Jupiter behind his left arm. At his left side are the attributes of writing and arts.
Below this group is the text:

virtvtibvs
maiorvm
vt sit omnibvs docvmento p.p.d.

To the Virtues of the Greater, to serve all of the teaching, dedicated by public expenses.

Below this group is a large relief showing the coat-of-arms of Portugal.

The four statues over the columns, made by Victor Bastos, represent Nuno Álvares Pereira and the Marquis of Pombal on the right, and Vasco da Gama and Viriatus on the left. The two recumbent figures represent the rivers Tagus and Douro.

Viriato / Viriatus (active 147 - 139 BC) the most important leader of the Lusitanian people that resisted Roman expansion into the regions of western Hispania (Wikipedia).

Vasco da Gama (Sines 1460 or '9 - Cochim, India 1524), Portuguese explorer, commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India (Wikipedia).

Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquês de Pombal (Lisboa 1699 - Pombal 1782) Portuguese statesman (Wikipedia).

Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, O. Carm. (Paço do Bonjardim or Flor da Rosa 1360 - Lisboa 1431) Portuguese general of great success who had a decisive role in the 1383-1385 Crisis that assured Portugal's independence from Castile. He later became a mystic and was later beatified by Pope Benedict XV, in 1918, and canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 (Wikipedia).

Tagus river

Douro river

Sculptors

• António Víctor de Figueiredo Bastos (1830 - 1894), Portuguese sculptor (Wikipedia).
  
• Célestin Anatole Calmels (Paris 1822 - Lisboa 1906), French sculptor (Wikipedia).

Sources & Information

• Wikipedia, Rua Augusta Arch.
• Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Equipamentos.
• Espaço e Tempo, revelar LX, Arte pública/Escultura.
• Sílvia Lucas Vieira de Almeida, Forma e conceito na escultura de oitocentos, Ph.D. Thesis Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2012 (PDF on-line).

Tags

Location (N 38°42'30" - W 9°8'12")

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