One of the main goals of the commission was to properly memorialise the anniversaries of the Portuguese Restoration of Independence from the Spanish in 1640.

After successfully lobbying the Lisbon City Council, in October 1875, it was decided that "a great landmark of stone and bronze, to attest for posterity the bold achievements of those who distinguished themselves in 1640, setting us free" would be built on south end of the Public Promenade[1] — itself replaced by the Avenida da Liberdade, a Parisian-style boulevard, as the city expanded north in the 1880s.

The obelisk was designed by António Tomás da Fonseca, and two allegorical statues of Independence and of Victory were sculpted by Alberto Nunes and Simões de Almeida [pt], respectively.

The obelisk proper stands on a wide three-tiered base: the first two tiers mix concave and convex surfaces and bear, on the southern face, the inscription: The third tier features several pilasters, those in the corners decorated with carved laurel wreaths, topped by a cornice and a denticulate frieze.

[2] The obelisk proper stands above this array of plinths: it is 14.6 meters (48 ft)[3] in height and it bears several inscriptions on each face, separated by decorative grooves, recalling important events of the war: on the southern face, along with the national arms, the inscriptions "Angra, 16 March 1642" and "Lisbon, 15 December 1640"; on the east face, "Badajoz, 22 July 1658", "Pernambuco, 17 January 1654", "Angola, 15 August 1648", "Santo Aleixo, 12 August 1641"; on the northern face, along with the municipal arms of Lisbon, the inscriptions "Peace Treaty, 13 February 1668", "Vila Viçosa, 14 June 1665"; and on the western side, "Castelo Rodrigo, 7 July 1664", "Almeida, 2 July 1663", "Évora, 4 June 1663", and "Elvas, 14 January 1659".