A symbol of European history’ – Sagres point, jutting out into the Atlantic, a landmark for sailors for thousands of years finally has received credit in the form of a European Heritage Label (EHL).
"For the first time, there is international recognition of a heritage that everyone knows is of great importance to world history."
Alexandra Gonçalves, the regional director for Algarve Culture spoke to Sul Informaçao of her "great joy" at Sagres receiving this recognition.
Sagres promontory is the site of the legendary headquarters of Prince Henry the Navigator from which he planned maritime expansion during the 15th century.
Whether the promontory was actually the site of the school or not, the geography of the coastline is remembered for the huge, jutting section of land which was certainly a key location in Portugal’s Maritime history.
The European Commission announced nine sites for the European Heritage Label, which includes 'the promontory of Sagres with its rich landscape located in the southwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula.'
Of the twenty sites that have received the European Heritage Label in the last two years, Portugal has two; the University of Coimbra Library and the Bill that abolished the death penalty which is conserved in the National Archives in Lisbon.
The EC formally will designate Sagres in February next year at a ceremony in Brussels.
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Henry the Navigator
When Infante Dom Henry the Navigator commenced his explorations, which would initiate the Portuguese Age of Discoveries, at his Vila do Infante, Sagres peninsula lacked the necessary requirements for such large undertakings.
Fresh water was scarce, agriculture was minimal, there was a shortage of wood for shipbuilding, no deep-water landing site, and the population was small.
Henry re-populated a village called Terçanabal, which had been deserted due to continuous pirate attacks on the coast. The village was situated in a strategic position for his maritime enterprises and was later called Vila do Infante.
Henry the Navigator employed cartographers, such as Jehuda Cresques, to help him chart the coast of Mauretania in the wake of voyages he had caused to made to there. He also engaged an expert map and instrument-maker, Jayme of Majorca, so that his captains might have the best nautical information.
This probably led to the legend of the Nautical School of Sagres, although a "school" also means a group of followers. There was no centre of navigational science or any supposed observatory, if compared to the modern definition of "observatory" or "navigational centre".
The centre of his expeditions was actually at Lagos, further to the east along the Algarve coast. Later Portuguese voyages left from Belém, just west of Lisbon.
This was a time of many important discoveries: cartography was being refined with the use of newly devised instruments, such as an improved astrolabe and improved sundial, maps were regularly being updated and extended, and a revolutionary type of vessel known as the caravel was designed.
Prince Henry built a chapel next to his house in 1459, as he began to spend more time in the Sagres area in his later years. He died at Sagres on 13 November 1460.
The exact location of Henry’s School of Navigation is not known - it is popularly believed to have been destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
Wikipedia
