Francisco de Arruda was appointed "Mestre do Baluarte de Belém" and the construction of the tower, under the orientation of "Mestre de Obras do Reino" Diogo de Boitaca, began in 1514 and was concluded in 1520. The decoration of the south facade displays symbols typical of the Manueline style - twisted ropes decorating the building's walls, connecting in elegant knots and loops, armillary spheres, crosses of the Military Order of Christ and naturalist elements, as well as other elements of Islamic and Oriental influence, of which the segmented domes that cover the sentry-towers are the most notable examples. We can distinguish two parts in the structure of the Torre: the tower, itself, still in the medieval tradition, narrower and with four vaulted rooms –sala do governador, sala dos reis, sala das audiências and chapel
- and the bulwark, wider and of later design.
The Torre de Belém is currently a national and universal cultural reference and in 1983 it was classified by UNESCO as "World Cultural Heritage".
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