Christopher Columbus statue

A bust of Christopher Columbus by the Madeiran sculptor Ricardo Veloza (1989), in the Avenida Infante D. Henrique garden in the heart of Vila Baleira. Columbus married Filipa Moniz, daughter of the first captain-donatary Bartolomeu Perestrelo, in 1479 or 1480, in Lisbon; he is said to have stayed in the archipelago between 1480 and 1482 and returned to Porto Santo in 1498 on his third voyage to America. Nearby, António Aragão's Padrão dos Descobrimentos, a tower of basalt sections inaugurated on 28 August 1960 and nicknamed "Pau de Sabão", marks the start of the promenade.