The square had previously been the site of a 17th-century palace of the Marquesses of Marialva that had been ruined in the 1755 earthquake. The foundation stone was ceremoniously set by King Luís I on 28 June 1862; on 9 October 1867, the same monarch solemnly unveiled the statue. In the late 19th century, the monument became the focus of important patriotic manifestations as Camões, in the Romantic spirit, was hailed as a symbol of the "heroic age", a paragon of "all the aspirations of the Portuguese nation, its glories and tragedies". Particularly notable were the highly politicised official tricentennial celebrations of Camões's death in 1880, a key moment in the consecration of Camões as a symbol of nationhood. Following the 1890 British Ultimatum, seen as an outrageous national humiliation, the monument was covered in black crêpe. The statue, in cast bronze, is tall and weighs approximately . Camões is depicted aged around 50; he stands in elegant pose, garbed in court dress (jerkin, padded hose, stockings, and a cape) and gazing directly ahead with an expression of gravity. His extended right arm holds an unsheathed sword and his left arm holds a copy of "The Lusiads" to his chest; on his feet lie a breastplate and a pile of books. The pedestal on which the figure of Camões stands is tall and is made of lioz limestone; it has eight faces and, on each angle, a plinth over which stands a smaller statue. Each statue stands at . These eight smaller statues depict leading figures of Portuguese culture of the Age of Discoveries: historian Fernão Lopes, cosmographer Pedro Nunes, chroniclers Gomes Eanes de Zurara, João de Barros, and Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, and epic poets Vasco Mouzinho de Quevedo, Jerónimo Corte-Real, and Francisco de Sá de Meneses. With the exception of João de Barros, whose likeness was taken from a portrait published in Manuel Severim de Faria's 1624 "Discursos Varios Politicos" (which also includes a portrait of Camões), all other figures on the monument were imagined and idealised by sculptor Victor Bastos, as no contemporary portraits could be found.