Afonso de Albuquerque Square (Portuguese: Praça Afonso de Albuquerque) is a public square in the Belém district of the city of Lisbon, Portugal.
The square is located in front of Belém Palace, a 17th-18th century palace that nowadays serves as residence for the President of Portugal. The square is named after the first conqueror of India, Afonso de Albuquerque, and offers the best views of Belém Palace. It has a beautiful monument, in neo-Manueline style, by artists Silva Pinto and Costa Mota tio, inaugurated in 1902. The monument carries a bronze statue of Afonso de Albuquerque and has interesting reliefs about his life.
The site of the square used to be a harbour, built in 1753. In 1807, Queen Mary I, Prince John VI and the royal family fled Lisbon from this harbour to Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, to escape the Napoleonic troops which had invaded Portugal.
Famous quotes containing the word square:
“In old times people used to try and square the circle; now they try and devise schemes for satisfying the Irish nation.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)