Earthquakes,tidal waves and firestorms ...
As early as 1855 Aires de Sa, an alderman on the Lisbon City Council launched the idea of building a statue paying tribute to Pombal. In 1882, with royal support, the cornerstone was laid for a monument to commemorate the centenary of Pombal's death. Political and financial obstacles stalled its completion. It was only in 1923 that a Commission chaired by the influential general and politician Vieira da Rocha successfully revived the project. The post office was to play a role in overcoming the financial barriers to the realization of the plan.
In 1924 the government authorized the sale of postal tax and postal tax due stamps in support of the construction of the monument. In 1925 Waterloo and Sons printed 20 million postal tax stamps consisting of 6,676,000 depicting a portrait of the Marquis de Pombal, 6,662,000 depicting the plans for the reconstruction of Lisbon and the same number of stamps depicting the planned monument. Small additional quantities were printed for distribution to the Universal Postal Union. The region of use, denomination and the word "MULTA" on the postal tax due stamps were then printed on these stamps.
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