Site of Original Dias Cross, National monument in Karas Region, Namibia

The Site of Original Dias Cross is a rocky spur of the Lüderitz Peninsula jutting about 50 m into the South Atlantic, east of Sturmvogelbucht. It holds a copy of Bartolomeu Dias's cross pillar, set up here on 25 July 1488. Nearby stand two German colonial beacons: a 4 m light of 1903 and the 35 m red-and-white lighthouse that replaced it in 1910, now out of service.

A Portuguese seafarer erected the original cross at this location in 1488 during a voyage to establish new trade routes around Africa. This journey was a turning point in European exploration of the southern hemisphere.

The cross marks where Bartolomeu Dias planted a padrão, a stone pillar topped with a cross, on 25 July 1488 during his voyage along the African coast toward India. The weathered original was later moved; parts of it are kept in the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, while the copy at the point stands in its place.

The wooden bridge to the cross has been unusable since mid-November 2014, and a photo from June 2026 shows it completely decayed. The cross can therefore only be reached at low tide by climbing over the offshore rocks. The site lies on a spur jutting about 50 m into the South Atlantic, exposed to wind and spray.

The replica at the point dates from 1921, not 1988; the Dutch source's claim of a 1988 copy tied to the Dias year conflicts with the German article. Parts of the original cross, weathered over centuries, are held in the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin.