3388 - The Eternal Flame

One more monument before we leave Belém. This is the Monumento aos Combatentes do Ultramar. It remembers the victims of the Portuguese Colonial War. The Portuguese victims, to be precise.

In the background you see a wall, and this wall lists the names of thousands of fallen soldiers.

Actually it’s a strange and beautiful place. The monument in the shallow pond, the eternal flame burning below, the alien overall shape, all that gives a feeling of what it may mean to die in a place far from home. It’s not comforting.