Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Após meses de trabalho, eis a estátua. - After months of work, here is the statue.

While aqui está a estátua is grammatically correct and common in everyday speech, eis is a presentational particle that adds a dramatic, revealing, or slightly formal tone. It translates to "behold" or "here is" and is perfect for showing off the result of the meses de trabalho.

Does eis need to be conjugated, or is there a missing verb here?

No verb is missing, and eis is invariable (it never changes form). It acts almost like a verb itself, carrying the meaning of "here is" or "there is", so you simply follow it directly with the noun phrase you want to present, which in this case is a estátua.

Could I have used depois de instead of após for "after"?

Yes, depois de meses would mean exactly the same thing. However, após is slightly more formal and elevated, which perfectly matches the dramatic, revealing tone of eis. Remember that após connects directly to the noun, while depois always needs the preposition de.

If I wanted to replace a estátua with a pronoun to say "Here it is", how would I do that with eis?