Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 38.72540473199771, -9.149991235720234

Praça do Marquês de Pombal, also known as Rotunda do Marquês de Pombal, is an important square in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. It is located between Avenida da Liberdade and Parque Eduardo VII. In the center stands the monument to Marquês de Pombal, inaugurated in 1934.

Under the square passes the Túnel do Marquês, an extensive road tunnel that connects the axis of Avenida Fontes Pereira de Melo with the A5 motorway and which is intended to serve motorists in the municipalities west of Lisbon.

History

Once called Rotunda, it was here that the decisive events that led to the Proclamation of the Portuguese Republic on October 5, 1910 took place.

Honored

The square pays tribute to Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, a statesman who led the country into the age of enlightenment, having ruled between 1750-77. His image is at the top of the column, with his hand resting on a lion (a symbol of power), with his eyes turned towards Baixa, the center of Lisbon that Pombal rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake.

Monument to the Marquis of Pombal

The competition for the monument (1915) was won by a team made up of architects Adães Bermudes and António do Couto (1874-1946) and sculptor Francisco dos Santos (the latter died 4 years before the inauguration). The monument also had the intervention of the sculptors Simões de Almeida (nephew), Leopoldo de Almeida and Eduardo Ribeiro Leitão.

Inaugurated on the 13th of May 1934, the Monument to the Marquis of Pombal consists of a carved stone pedestal, 40 meters high, on which the bronze statue rests. This pedestal boasts, at the top, four medallions where the main collaborators of the Marquis of Pombal appear. The lower part of the base is surrounded by various allegorical figures, "namely the female figure symbolizing «Lisbon rebuilt» and three sculptural groups evoking the reforms carried out by Sebastião Carvalho e Melo. At the top, the statue of the Marquis of Pombal, body, rests his arm on the back of a lion, which symbolizes strength, determination and royalty itself". The sidewalk around the roundabout is decorated with the coat of arms of Lisbon.