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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This photo was taken at the Cais do Sodré dock in Lisbon and it shows 2 men fishing, a ferry, a cargo vessel, the Cristo Rei monument and of course the main element the Tagus River.
Tagus (Latin Tagus, Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo) is the largest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It measures 1,038 kilometers in length, 716 km of which are in Spain, 47 km as border between Portugal and Spain and the remaining 275 km in Portugal. It drains an area of 80,100 km² (the second largest in the Iberian peninsula after the Douro). It follows a very constricted course for much of its length, but after Almorol it enters a vast alluvian valley prone to flooding. Today the Alcantara Dam regulates much of the river's flow.
The source of the Tagus is the Fuente de García, in the Albarracín mountains. It ends in the Atlantic Ocean by Lisbon. The largest bridge across the river is Vasco da Gama bridge (in Lisbon) with a total length of 17.2 km. It was at the time also the largest bridge in Europe.
The main cities it passes through are Aranjuez, Toledo, Talavera de la Reina and Alcántara in Spain, and Constância, Santarem and Lisbon in Portugal.
The Portuguese regions of Alentejo and Ribatejo take their names from the river. Alentejo, from Além-Tejo (beyond the Tagus), and Ribatejo, from Arriba-Tejo (on the banks of the Tagus). There is a transvasement between the Tagus and the Segura River.
On the other side of the river (in the municipality of Almada) one can see the Cristo-Rei (translation: Christ the King), a Catholic monument overlooking Lisbon, capital of Portugal. It was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and inaugurated on May 17, 1959.
The base of the monument, by architect António Lino, is in the form of a gate, standing 75 m (246 ft) tall. At the top is a statue of Christ the Redeemer, designed by sculptor Francisco Franco de Sousa, 28 m (92 ft)-tall. At the base of the statue is an observation deck (altitude: 184 m / 604 ft) providing panoramic views of Lisbon and of the 25 de Abril Bridge, which is located to its immediate left.
The construction of Cristo-Rei was approved on a Portuguese Episcopate conference, held in Fátima on April 20, 1940, as a plea to God to release Portugal from entering World War II. However, the idea had originated on a visit by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro in 1934, soon after the inauguration of the statue of Christ the Redeemer on 1931.
Construction started in 1950 and took nine years to completion, It was funded by public subscription.
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Exposure Time: 10/4000 sec
F-Stop: f/10.0
ISO Speed Ratings: 100
Focal Length: 23.7 mm |
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