The statue represents the queen, life-size and majestic in appearance, cast in cast bronze, and was originally placed in front of the museum, occupying the site where it is today, flanking the entrance to the museum, in 1961.
The inauguration took place on 8 December 1958, to mark the fifth centenary of the birth of Queen Leonor. The then recently created Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation was the precursor to this event, promoted by a national committee, which included the mayor of Beja at the time, José António Silva.
But who was Queen Leonor and what does she represent for the city of Beja?
This queen was born in Beja in 1458, the daughter of D. Fernando and D. Brites, the first dukes of Beja, princes of Portugal, who in the second half of the 15th century founded one of the richest convents in the south of the country, the Royal Monastery of Our Lady of the Conception, where the museum bearing her name is located.
Wife of King D. João II, and queen consort of Portugal from 1481 to 1495, she made an indelible impression in the areas of culture and charity. In the cultural field, she is known for her protection of Gil Vicente and Damião de Gois, for her support of the arts and the press, and for having also been responsible for the printed and translated version of the work O Espelho de Cristina, considered by some contemporary authors to be the beginning of the feminist movement, by Christine de Pisan.
In the area of charity, she founded the mother institution of the charities, the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, an entity replicated throughout the kingdom.
In 2025, 500 years after his death (1525), his legacy is still very much alive, the Misericórdias continue to exist and play a leading role in the country's social life.