Pedro IV-plein te Lissabon 1889 - 1905

This monochrome postcard shows the Pedro IV Square in Lisbon, its open space punctuated by a triumphal column. The column, crowned with a statue, is an ancient symbol that has evolved over millennia to symbolize power and victory, a motif stretching back to Roman antiquity. Here, the column commemorates a monarch, but its antecedents lie in the victory columns of emperors, which, in turn, echo the sacred pillars of even earlier civilizations. The fountain, too, at the foreground, is not merely decorative. Water, as a source of life and purity, holds a deeply rooted place in our collective consciousness. Notice how these symbols—the column, the fountain—recur across cultures, each time imbued with new meanings, yet still resonating with primal human experiences. This square, thus, becomes a stage upon which history and the subconscious intertwine, inviting us to reflect on the cyclical nature of symbols.