The imaginary face of Bartolomeu Dias

Because no images were rendered of Bartolomeu Dias during his lifetime, the features on his statues are imaginary. His posture is meant to radiate bravery, energy, and perseverance, conveying more to the spectator than his face. He wears a wide seaman's coat and peers over the bow of his ship toward the stormy southeast over the open ocean. He holds his cap in his right hand and his astrolabe in his right.

In Cape Town, a statue of the explorer stands near the entrance of the Port of Cape Town. The Portuguese government decided to bestow this statue, created by Prof. Salvador Barata Feyo, to the people of South Africa in 1952. The gift coincided with the 300th anniversary of the settlement of the Cape of Good Hope. The granite pedestal was designed by the architect António Fernandes de Sá.

Other monuments to the first European to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa can be found in different locations. One statue stands near the Post Office Tree near the Bartolomeu Dias Museum Complex in Mossel Bay. Another, by Coert Steynberg, was built before World War II and stands in an alcove of the South Africa House in Trafalgar Square, London.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons