This dock formerly belonged to the Portuguese Navy and has been opened to pleasure craft (with 163 berths for boats up to 15 metres in length).
It is situated a short distance to the east of the Torre de Belém, a 16th C monument classified by UNESCO as world heritage and a magnificent example of the Manueline style of architecture (an elaborate and exclusively Portuguese variety of the late Gothic style). Between this tower, which has since become the very hallmark of Lisboa, and the Praça do Império, there are several important monuments facing the river and marking the point from which the Portuguese navigators set sail on their great voyages of discovery (beginning in 1415).