This is called the Toure de Belem. Let me give you a little Portugese lesson. An em at the end of the word is pronounced eng. So this is actally called the Tour de Beleng. This was one of the first things we went to see when we got to Lisbon. It was built to keep enemy ships from sailing up the river that runs through Lisbon. In Portugese Lisbon is called Lisboa. that messed me up a couple of times when I was trying to follow road signs and kept looking for Lisbon but didn't see it.
This is in a place called Evora. If you notice, all the walls are covered in bones. They aren't fake bones, they really belonged to people. You can see the skulls they put on the corners of the columns as decoration. Apparently the bones belonged to monks who were buried in cemetaries around Evora which were taking up too much room. So they put all the bones in this chapel. There is an enscription above the door that says, "Nos ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos" -"We bones here are waiting for yours."
This was also in Lisboa. It's called the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, we think this means Memorial of the Discoverers. One of the pictured people, though I don't know which one, is Vasco de Gama who, I hope you agree, did something noteworthy though I'm not sure what. I think he was the first to sail to India. Thanks goodness for Indian spices.
This is called the Toure de Belem. Let me give you a little Portugese lesson. An em at the end of the word is pronounced eng. So this is actally called the Tour de Beleng. This was one of the first things we went to see when we got to Lisbon. It was built to keep enemy ships from sailing up the river that runs through Lisbon. In Portugese Lisbon is called Lisboa. that messed me up a couple of times when I was trying to follow road signs and kept looking for Lisbon but didn't see it.
This is in a place called Evora. If you notice, all the walls are covered in bones. They aren't fake bones, they really belonged to people. You can see the skulls they put on the corners of the columns as decoration. Apparently the bones belonged to monks who were buried in cemetaries around Evora which were taking up too much room. So they put all the bones in this chapel. There is an enscription above the door that says, "Nos ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos" -"We bones here are waiting for yours."
This was also in Lisboa. It's called the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, we think this means Memorial of the Discoverers. One of the pictured people, though I don't know which one, is Vasco de Gama who, I hope you agree, did something noteworthy though I'm not sure what. I think he was the first to sail to India. Thanks goodness for Indian spices.
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