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Portugal - Lisbon - Park of the Nations - Vasco da Gama Tower 01_DSC0896

I thought the Vasco da Gama Tower had a touch of Dubai about it, albeit on a budget. It was interesting to learn that the observation tower itself was buit for EXPO98 and that the hotel was then built 15 years later.

 

Click here to see photos from my trip to Lisbon as well as a previous trip to Portugal : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/albums/72157605502948784

 

From Wikipedia : "The Vasco da Gama Tower (Portuguese: Torre Vasco da Gama) is a 145 m lattice tower with skyscraper in Lisbon, Portugal, built over the Tagus river. It is named after Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who was the first European to arrive in India by sail, in 1498.

 

The architects of the tower were Leonor Janeiro, Nick Jacobs and SOM (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill). The steel structure, representing the sail of a caravel, was assembled by engineering company Martifer.

 

The tower was built in 1998 for the Expo 98 World's Fair. At the 120 m, there was an observation deck and, just below it, a luxury panoramic restaurant. At the base of the tower was a three-story building that served as the European Union Pavilion during the expo.

 

Both the observation deck and the restaurant were closed in October 2004. While they were open, the tower was the tallest structure in Portugal open to the public (excluding bridges).

 

The base building was to be leased for office space after the closing of the expo, but never found tenants. Instead, it was used for one-off events, like the world premiere of the new MINI car in 2001. In 2006 the tower was climbed by Alain Robert, a solo urban climber. He was sponsored by Optimus Telecomunicações, a Portuguese mobile phone company, that used the climb as part of a marketing campaign for a recently released product.

 

Parque Expo received permission for a plan by Portuguese architect Nuno Leónidas to expand on the riverside, for a luxury hotel with 178 rooms in 20 floors. The base building was demolished from July to September 2007, and construction of the hotel started in October 2007. The hotel is called "Myriad by Sana Hotels", managed by Portuguese company Sana Hotels. The observation deck and the panoramic restaurant are still accessible through the three current panoramic elevators."

 

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Uploaded on February 14, 2016
Taken on September 27, 2015