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34-533: In 2020 a group of geologists proposed an alternative model for the Adamastor Ocean in which it is reduced to an intracontinental rift system with only some minor oceanic crust developing in its southern part. South African geologist Chris Hartnady named the Precambrian ocean after the mythical giant Adamastor from Luís de Camões 's poem Os Lusíadas which celebrates Vasco da Gama 's discovery of

68-510: A half-marathon that starts on the south bank and finishes in the north bank (Belem). In September 2017, an observation deck was built allowing people to go to the platform. Using the bridge has always incurred a toll, first in both directions and then, from 1993, while travelling northbound only. The toll plaza situated on the south bank of the Tagus River. The tolls have become a source of political dispute in recent years. The bridge

102-428: A 20th-century perspective. Adamastor is also mentioned in the opera L'Africaine (1865) about Vasco da Gama by the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer . The slave Nelusko sings a song about Adamastor while he deliberately steers the ship into a storm and it sinks. It is mentioned by Voltaire in his Essai sur la poésie épique . It also appears in the works of Victor Hugo : Les Misérables (III, Marius, chap III) and in

136-507: A government concession for a railway crossing between Lisbon and Montijo (where the Vasco da Gama Bridge , the second bridge serving Lisbon, was later built in 1998). As a result, the Minister of Public Works, Duarte Pacheco , created a commission in 1933 to analyse the request. The commission reported in 1934, and proposed building a road and rail bridge. Bids were obtained, but the proposal

170-524: A lower deck, used as a railway track , which was planned since the beginning, was finally built. Today, the upper deck carries six car lanes while the lower deck carries a double track railway, electrified at 25 kV AC . From the late 19th century, there had been proposals to build a bridge across the Tagus. In 1929, the idea advanced when the Portuguese engineer and entrepreneur, António Bello, requested

204-586: A poem dedicated to Lamartine ( Les Feuilles d'automne , chap IX). Alexandre Dumas, père refers the giant six times: Le Comte de Monte Cristo (chap. XXXI), Vingt ans après (chap. LXXVII), Georges (chap. I), Bontekoe, Les drames de la mer , (chap. I), Causeries (chap. IX) and Mes Mémoires (chap. CCXVIII). Gaston Leroux also mentions it in The Phantom of the Opera (chap. VI). Herman Melville mentions Adamastor and Camões in his Billy Budd , at

238-508: A total of 3,000 who worked on the site. Construction took a total of 2,185,000 man-hours of work. The total cost of the bridge came to 2.2 billion Portuguese escudos , or US$ 32 million (US$ 225 million in 2011 adjusted for inflation). Soon after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the bridge was renamed the 25 de Abril Bridge, the day the revolution had occurred. A symbol of those times was captured on film, with citizens removing

272-541: Is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon , capital of Portugal , to the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tagus River . It has a main span length of 1,013 metres (3,323 ft), making it the 48th longest suspension bridge in the world . At the time of its inauguration in 1966, the bridge was named Salazar Bridge ( Ponte Salazar ), after Portuguese Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar , who ordered its construction. After

306-553: The Carnation Revolution in 1974, which overthrew the remnants of Salazar's Estado Novo regime , the bridge was renamed for April 25, the date of the revolution. It is also commonly called the Tagus River Bridge (in Portuguese: Ponte sobre o Tejo = "bridge over the Tagus"). Later changes had to be made due to the rapid increase in population. In the 1990s, a fifth car lane was added, and in 1999,

340-773: The Bay Bridge and the 25 de Abril Bridge were built by the same company. The American Society of Civil Engineers says: "Like its sister bridge, the SFOBB in San Francisco, the Tagus River Bridge is located in an area with a long history of earthquakes" and seismic data had to be taken into account in its construction. Another sister bridge is the Forth Road Bridge in Edinburgh . Upon completion,

374-608: The Cape and penetrate the Indian Ocean , which was Adamastor's domain. Adamastor became the spirit of the Cape of Good Hope, a hideous phantom of unearthly pallor: Even as I spoke, an immense shape Materialised in the night air, Grotesque and enormous stature With heavy jowls, and an unkempt beard Scowling from shrunken, hollow eyes Its complexion earthy and pale, Its hair grizzled and matted with clay, Its mouth coal black, teeth yellow with decay. Vasco da Gama, ahead of

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408-516: The Portuguese expedition, confronts the creature by asking "Who are you?" , prompting Adamastor to tell his story. I am that vast, secret promontory you Portuguese call the Cape of Storms which neither Ptolemy, Pompey or Strabo, Pliny, nor any authors knew of. Here Africa ends. Here its coast Concludes in this, my vast inviolate Plateau, extending southwards towards the Pole And, by your daring, struck to my very soul. Deeply moved,

442-686: The Río de la Plata Craton first collided with the Congo Craton, which then collided with the Kalahari Craton, which finally collided with Río de la Plata. Adamastor Adamastor is a mythological character created by the Portuguese poet Luís de Camões in his epic poem Os Lusíadas (first printed in 1572), as a personification of the Cape of Good Hope , symbolizing the dangers of

476-535: The bridge and consequent police charges, an event which made the right-wing Government highly unpopular and which many believe led to a centre-left win in the 1995 general elections. The toll is set at €2.10 for passenger cars (as of January 2024 ), northbound (into Lisbon). There is no toll southbound, and until 2010, no tolls were collected during the month of August. From 2011 on, the Portuguese Government abolished that exception, in order to help

510-531: The bridge had the longest suspended span and the longest main span in Continental Europe, the world's longest continuous truss, and the world's deepest bridge foundation. It was the fifth-longest suspension bridge in the world, and the longest outside the US. Today it is the 48th longest suspension bridge in the world. As of 2006 , a daily average of 150,000 cars cross the bridge, including 7,000 during

544-452: The bridge, including some scenes in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service when James Bond is in a car driving across a bridge with Marc Ange Draco 's henchmen, and it is also featured near the end of the movie when Bond marries Tracy and drives across the bridge with her in Bond's Aston Martin. Normally, pedestrians cannot walk across the bridge, but every year there is

578-506: The efforts to reduce the budget deficit. Assuming that no legal changes happen , the concession will end on 24 March 2030, after which the bridge will again be state-managed. The 25 de Abril Bridge is based in part on two San Francisco Bay Area bridges. Its paint is the same International Orange color as the famous Golden Gate Bridge , and the design is similar as well to the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge . Both

612-632: The end of Chapter VII. Adamastor is also the name of a sauropod dinosaur, Angolatitan adamastor , found in Angola, named by the paleontologist Octávio Mateus . The name Adamastor is an adaptation for the Portuguese language from the Greek word for "Untamed" or "Untameable" ( Adamastos ) (which the Portuguese did tame). 25 de Abril Bridge The 25 de Abril Bridge ( Portuguese : Ponte 25 de Abril , 25th of April Bridge, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpõtɨ ˈvĩtɨ (i) ˈsĩku dɨ ɐˈbɾil] )

646-471: The enlargement from four to six lanes, the addition of the railway, and the building of a second bridge serving Lisbon, the Vasco da Gama Bridge . A third bridge has been on and off government plans for some time, but in May 2024 the government announced to prioritize building this new bridge as part of the new Lisbon-Madrid high-speed rail line , to be finalized in 2034. Several movies have been filmed on

680-484: The giant eventually vanishes, dispersing the clouds and calming the sea, leaving the path towards India open. Adamastor represented the dangers Portuguese sailors faced when trying to round the Cape of Storms – Cabo das Tormentas – henceforth called the Cape of Good Hope . A popular gathering place in Lisbon is known by the name 'Adamastor' because of the large stone statue of the mythical figure which presides over

714-418: The government, which ran the bridge at the time, raised the toll by 50%, from 100 to 150 escudos, to prepare to give the bridge into private concession for 40 years from 1 January 1996. The concessionaire was Lusoponte, a private consortium formed to build the Vasco da Gama Bridge at no cost to the public finances in exchange for tolls from both bridges. As a result, a popular uprising led to road blockades of

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748-446: The large brass letters spelling "Salazar" from one of the main pillars of the bridge and painting a provisional "25 de Abril" in its place. The upper platform, running 70 m (230 ft) above water, had four car lanes, two in each direction, with a dividing guardrail. On 23 July 1990, the guardrail was removed and a fifth, reversible lane was created. On 6 November 1998, the side walls were extended and reinforced to make space for

782-743: The ocean water was strongly stratified and thus that it must have been a closed ocean, similar to the Mediterranean, but probably covered by ice during the Sturtian and Marinoan glaciations . Ocean floor adjacent to the Marmora Terrane (near the Orange River in South Africa) formed c. 740–580 Ma, dates that represent the first rifting and the first accretion respectively. The Adamastor Ocean closed in three episodes:

816-470: The original set, and the main towers were increased in height. The railway had been part of the initial design, but was eliminated for economy, so the initial structure was lightened. The original builder American Bridge Company was called again for the job, performing the first aerial spinning of additional main cables on a loaded, fully operational suspension bridge. Traffic soon increased well beyond predictions, and has remained at maximum capacity despite

850-437: The present six lanes. Cars crossing the bridge make a peculiar hum - listen (59s) - because the two inner lanes are made of metallic grating rather than asphalt to minimize aerodynamic forces by means of pressure equalization. Since 30 June 1999, the lower platform has carried a double track railway. To accommodate that, the bridge underwent extensive structural reinforcements, including a second set of main cables, placed above

884-581: The sculpture, are mentioned several times in José Saramago 's Nobel Prize -winning novel, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis , and also in his historical novel Memorial do Convento (English language version: Baltasar and Blimunda ). Adamastor has figured in much poetry of the Cape . In The First Life of Adamastor , a novella by André Brink , the writer refashioned the Adamastor story from

918-560: The sea and the formidable forces of nature challenged and ultimately overcome by the Portuguese during the Age of Discovery . Adamastor manifests itself out of a storm. Camões gave his creation a backstory as one of the Giants of Greek mythology , banished to the Cape of Good Hope by sea goddess Doris for falling in love with her daughter Tethis , now appearing out of a storm cloud and threatening to ruin anyone hardy enough to attempt passing

952-630: The sea route to India. Hartnady thought it an appropriate name since the demigod was transformed into stone and personified the Cape of Storms and since Atlas and Iapetus are associated with the oceans of the northern Atlantic, the North Atlantic Ocean and the Iapetus Ocean respectively. The Adamastor Ocean was narrow in the north, perhaps similar to the Red Sea, but widened southward. Carbon isotope analyses indicate that

986-590: The space, which is officially called the Miradouro de Santa Catarina. The location offers visitors some of the most scenic views of the Tagus river, the 25 de Abril Bridge and the Cristo-Rei monument. The Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa included in his 1934 book Mensagem a number of verses dedicated to Adamastor, entitled O Mostrengo ("The Hideous Monster") Adamastor, both the mythological character and

1020-551: The winner was announced as a consortium headed by the United States Steel Export Company, which had also submitted a bid in 1935. The American School of Lisbon was founded largely to educate the children of the American engineers brought to Portugal to work on the construction of the bridge. Construction began on 5 November 1962. Forty-five months later, six months ahead of schedule, the bridge

1054-637: Was inaugurated on 6 August 1966. Presiding at the ceremony was the President of Portugal , Admiral Américo Thomaz . Also present were the Prime-Minister , António de Oliveira Salazar , and the Patriarch of Lisbon , Cardinal Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira . The bridge was named Salazar Bridge ( Ponte Salazar ), after Prime Minister Salazar. United States Steel International Inc., based in New York,

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1088-541: Was prime contractor for the bridge. Morrison-Knudsen of Portugal Ltd., an American firm based in Boise, Idaho, was U.S. Steel's principal associate. Morrison-Knudsen had previously worked on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The bridge was designed by Steinman, Boynton, Gronquist and London of New York, and Tudor Engineering Company of San Francisco. The steel was imported from the US. Four workers died, out of

1122-460: Was projected to have paid all debt in 20 years, and to become toll-free (or have a reduced toll) after that period. However, the Government kept charging tolls well beyond the 20-year period, until it gave the concession to Lusoponte , creating a monopoly of the Tagus crossing in Lisbon. When opened, people had to park their car and walk to buy a toll ticket costing 20 escudos. On 14 June 1994,

1156-488: Was subsequently put aside in favor of a bridge crossing the river at Vila Franca de Xira , 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Lisbon. In 1953, a new government commission started work and, in 1958, recommended building the bridge, choosing the southern anchor point adjacent to the recently-built Christ the King monument ( Cristo-Rei ). In 1959, the international invitation to tender for the project received four bids. In 1960,

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