José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo conceived the monument with the sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida for the 1940 Portuguese World Exhibition. That version was steel, cement and plaster, and it was demolished by June 1943. The permanent version was commissioned in 1958, led by António Pardal Monteiro, and built from November 1958 to January 1960. It was inaugurated on August 9, 1960 and finished that October.
It is shaped like a caravel's prow, in cement and rose-tinted Leiria stone, with limestone statues from the Sintra region. The slab is 184 feet (56 m) high. The compass-rose square, 160 feet (50 m) across, was a gift from South Africa.
A cultural center opened in 1985 with public access to the top. EGEAC, a public company, has managed it since 2003.
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