Heritage

Explore the legacy of the Lisbon region. With UNESCO World Heritage Sites you'll discover enchanting giants, both natural and man made.

And feel what a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage sounds like with an unforgettable experience of Fado.

The Belém Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of Lisbon’s most striking monuments and the icon of a country historically moulded by its proximity to the ocean and its maritime discoveries of new worlds.

Discoveries by Portuguese navigators transformed Lisbon into the world’s main trade hub in the 15th and 16th centuries.

To protect the city, King João II conceived a pioneer project to defend Lisbon from enemy ships, a work completed in 1514 and which included the building of the Belém Tower, designed by architect Francisco de Arruda.

The tower’s unique design includes a modern and heavily armed bastion, protruding over the river.

King Manuel I clearly wished the Belém Tower to stand as a lasting symbol of his powerful reign by depicting the royal coat of arms, the armillary sphere and the cross of the Order of Christ.

The Jerónimos Monastery is a National Monument and was classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

King Manuel I built a large monastery near the location where the Infante D. Henrique ordered a church to be built in the mid-15th century by invocation of St. Mary of Belém.

To immortalise the memory of the Infante, for his intense devotion to Our Lady and faith in St. Jerome, in 1496 King Manuel I decided to found the Monastery of St. Mary of Belém, near the city of Lisbon, next to the Tagus River.

Donated to the monks of the Order of St. Jerome, today it is commonly known as the Jerónimos Monastery.

A pantheon of the Avis-Beja Dynasty, in the 19th century the church became the sepulchre for heroes and poets: Vasco da Gama and Luís de Camões.

A notable work of architecture, it became part of Portuguese identity and culture.

Newly added to the list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, this magnificent Palace and its surrondings will astonish you.

Sintra is the most mystical and romantic destination in Portugal par excellence. It has been an UNESCO world heritage site for its cultural landscape since 1992. Its sudden and mysterious mists, farms, palaces and mansions dotting its verdant hills, and the novels, poems and artworks it has inspired have helped to make this town a unique, magical and utterly compelling destination.

UNESCO’s World’s Intangible Cultural Heritage

One of Lisbon's pearls, Fado is part of UNESCO’s World’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Don’t know why? Go to a typical fado house and discover it in other attractions around the city. We’re sure you’ll add it to your holidays best memories list.