Inspired by a painting by the famous Augusto Gomes, a great artist from Matosinhos, the sculptural ensemble ‘Tragedy at Sea’ by Jose Joao Brito (2005) remembers the greatest nautical tragedy every recorded on Portuguese waters: the tempest of 1-2 December 1947 in which several fishing boats sank off Leixoes Port, causing the death of 152 crew members and pain and despair in the whole community. 72 widows and 152 orphans came out of this tragedy.

This sculpture was designed and built by an American artist, Janet Echelman, in 2005. Held by three metal posts it consists of a giant net with a diameter of 42 meters and swings in the wind, mimicking the movements of anemones.

In a dominant position over the Atlantic Ocean and a short distance from the mouth of the Douro River, it is also known as Castelo do Queijo because it was built on a rounded granite rock and with a shape similar to that of a cheese.