Finding a quiet place, where it is possible to see an exhibition, attend a concert or a lecture, or simply read a book, may not be an easy task during the Festas de Lisboa month. But, here are some suggestions.
Goethe-Institut
The old Palácio Valmor, built in the 18th century, was, in addition to being a family residence until the beginning of the 20th century, the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and, from 1964, the Embassy of the former German Federal Republic. Today it is the home of the Goethe-Institut.
Located in Campo Mártires da Pátria, the beautiful palace is the stage for a variety of cultural activities: concerts, cinema and literary sessions, debates and workshops. The garden, with plants originating from Asia, Africa and South America, mixed with native vegetation, constitutes a true oasis in the city center, where you can enjoy a terrace that serves German specialties.
Another highlight is the library, an ideal place to read, study or work and where there is a small reading garden (separate from the main garden).
In June, the garden hosts MediaCon (June 28 and 29), a festival of dialogue about journalism, organized by newsrooms that publish free access journalism, and also Encontros com “Galileu” de Brecht (June 7 and 14).
Palácio Fronteira
Located in an old Quinta de Recreio, Palácio Fronteira is one of Lisbon’s most beautiful monuments from the 17th century. The building, today a National Monument is a museum-house, that maintains its design very close to its original design, preserving the largest collection of seventeenth-century azulejos (Portuguese tiles).
Having the particularity of continuing to be inhabited by the descendants of Dom João de Mascarenhas, the first Marquis of Fronteira, the space is visitable, allowing free walks in the magnificent gardens (audio and video guides can be requested) and guided tours of the interior. There are also themed tours dedicated to the tiles and literary figures that inhabited the palace.
The place, a unique space to escape the hustle and bustle of central Lisbon, also features a regular cultural program that includes concerts, exhibitions and staged visits. Highlights in June is the concert organized and broadcasted from Palácio Fronteira by Antena 2 (June 8) and the staged visits aimed at families.
Biblioteca de Alcântara | Palacete do Conde de Burnay
The Palacete do Conde de Burnay, built at the end of the 19th century, opened its doors to the community early on and, in the 1930s, housed the Ferreira Borges Commercial School. The building was later rehabilitated and transformed into the Alcântara Library.
The library maintains a close relationship with the parish where it is located and its inhabitants, and even before opening it already had a community theater group. It is, however, open to everyone, offering public reading and multipurpose rooms, an exhibition gallery and a garden that invites relaxation and serenity.
Every month the space is the stage for various cultural events, regularly hosting film cycles, conversations, exhibitions, theater and a choir for adults and children, and the Histórias e Memórias de Alcântara project.
In June, among other activities, the programme includesa session of Filme do mês/Film of the Month (June 22), in partnership with Zero em Comportamento, and Conversations about Artificial Intelligence (June 15).
Brotéria
In the heart of Bairro Alto, in one of the liveliest areas of Lisbon, is located Brotéria, a house with history, built in the 16th century. The palace, formerly home to Condes de Tomar, was the headquarters of the Royal British Club and the Lisbon Hemeroteca Municipal. Since 2020, it has housed Brotéria, of the religious order Society of Jesus, a Jesuit cultural center, which had as its starting point the Brotéria magazine, created 120 years ago.
The space, which allows you to escape the chaos outside, includes the library, particularly valuable in the field of Theology, Philosophy, Literature and History, which brings together several reading rooms, ideal for studying or working; the café, with a friendly and silent patio, a meeting place that invites you to rest; the Snob bookstore, its own editorial project with considerable experience in the second-hand book market, and a gallery that hosts exhibitions.
From the June programme, some highlights are J.R.R. Tolkien: o objetivo da vida (June 4), the conversation and visit to the library Marcas de posse e encadernações notáveis na Biblioteca da Brotéria (June 5) and the guided tour of the palace (June 29).
Biblioteca Palácio Galveias
Housed in the building that was once the home of the Távora family is the Palácio Galveias Library. The palace, acquired by the municipality in 1928, was transformed into a Municipal Archive, Library and Museum. Located next to Campo Pequeno, the library, where Nobel Prize winner for Literature José Saramago, claimed to have “really learned to read”, is today the epicenter of regular cultural activity.
Reading clubs, conversations, lectures, concerts, exhibitions and cinema are some of the activities carried out in this inspiring and peaceful space. The large garden is a refuge that promotes outdoor reading and moments of tranquility. At the kiosk that serves as a cafeteria you can also take a break for light meals.
Of the June programme, it is worth highlighting the conversation Escrita em Dia, with Layla Martínez, a Spanish author who launched her first novel in Portugal this year (June 17), the music event Guitarras do Grácio & Convidados (June 21) and the children’s play O Gigante Egoísta, based on Oscar Wilde’s book (June 30).
Here we are in another edition of the Festas de Lisboa which, as expected, have Marchas Populares (People’s Parades) and Arraiais (Street Fairs), Thrones, Race and Weddings of Saint Anthony. As a popular manifestation of intergenerational and multicultural Lisbon, the Festas include other festivals, particularly those that evoke sights, sounds, smells and tastes from other latitudes, such as the Bollywood Holi Festival and Indian Market, in Comunidade Hindu de Portugal (June 2), the Korean Culture Festival, at Museu de Lisboa – Palácio Pimenta (June 8), the Thai Festival (between June 21 and 23) and the Festival of Japan (June 29), at Jardim Vasco da Gama, in Belém.
The Arraiais (Street Fairs) promise to be in full swing throughout the month in the parishes of Alcântara, Carnide, Estrela, Misericórdia, Olivais, Penha de França, Santa Maria Maior and São Vicente. But there are more parties on the agenda: the Festival de Telheiras (from May 24 to June 2); Arraial dos Navegantes (May 30 to June 2), in Parque das Nações, Trezena de Santo António (June 1 to 11), with fados, visits and guitar playing in Largo de Santo António; the unmissable Arraial da Vila Berta (from June 1 to 12); or the three days of music, gastronomy and crafts at Alameda D. Afonso Henriques, where the VIII Meeting of Associativism and Regionalism in the city of Lisbon takes place, between June 14 and 16. Also noteworthy is the already traditional Arraial Pride scheduled for June 22nd, in Terreiro do Paço.
The festas of Marchas Populares
Lisbon’s marchers head to Avenida da Liberdade for the city’s longest night, from June 12 to 13. This year, the parade begins with a special moment: the Dragon Dance, by Associação Geral Desportiva de Macau Lo Leong (guest group), commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region.
As for the marchas populares, preceding the parade on the Avenue, they take place at the MEO Arena between May 31st and June 2nd, always starting at 9 pm.
On June 15, in Jardim da Torre de Belém, almost two thousand children, divided into 39 groups, will march under the slogan “Lisbon, City of Traditions: the Tagus”. The Lisbon School Marches are a Lisbon City Council initiative in partnership with Lisbon schools, parents’ associations and parish councils.
Music and everything else
Music is another of the Festas’ strengths, with very eclectic concerts ranging from fado to jazz, popular music, dancehall, R&B and classical music. In addition to the concerts by Tony Carreira (June 29) and Richie Campbell (June 30) that close the Festas de Lisboa at Praça do Comércio, the highlight goes to a unique concert by Mariza (June 20) at Castelo de São Jorge. The fado singer presents her most recent work and covers two decades of her career in a show that promises to be unforgettable.
Also worth mentioning is classical music in the Grande Auditório of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, with a musical trip to Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries (June 15), and jazz, with seven concerts in Largo do Picadeiro, with national and international artists (between June 1 and 15).
The Festas de Lisboa also include cinema, theater and exhibitions.
Full programme here.
From the already emblematic Mouth of Madness section to the pool sessions, IndieLisboa continues to show that a film festival can surprise beyond just the films.
Indie Date
The blind date experience (romantic or not), which took place for the first time last year with good attendance, is back to bring together moviegoers and “counter the trend that everything is done online”. The premise is “to promote direct contact between people who, by having company to watch the film, can then talk and share ideas in person”, says Susana Santos Rodrigues, emphasizing that the aim is to “try to make the physical experience in a cinema don’t be forgotten.”
Participation in this Indie Date implies the purchase of a ticket to watch Andrew Haigh’s latest film, All of us Strangers, with Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, in a unique screening in a theater in Portugal. Candidates for Indie Date are invited to answer a questionnaire, through which the festival’s “compatibility department” identifies the affinities between those registered, measuring the harmony in order to create the best matches so that the ending is happy.
Cinema at the Pool
The Penha de França Swimming Pool is transformed into a floating cinema room, similar to what happened in 2023. The first edition of the event had great participation and, this year, it is repeated with a program of short films for families and, for the first time, two feature films for adults.
All programmed works are based on the element of water in their theme. Susana Santos Rodrigues highlights the evening sessions where two classic films are shown: Palombella Rossa, a political satire, directed and performed by Nanni Moretti, about an amnesiac communist leader who is also a water polo player; and Piranha, a cult parody directed by Joe Dante, where genetically altered and deadly piranhas terrorize a summer resort bathed by a beautiful lake.
Mouth of Madness Marathon
The most daring section of the festival, Mouth of Madness, where terror, sarcasm and adrenaline mix, brings something new: a marathon session that starts at 11pm on May 31 and ends at six in the morning the following day.
The most daring public is invited to spend the night at Cinema Ideal and watch a program that includes short and feature films. Among them, Late Night with the Devil, by Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes, stands out, which reveals a lost recording of a Halloween episode, from a 1977 talkshow, where the interviewees are a parapsychologist and a girl who appears to be the only one survivor of a satanic church mass suicide; and Cobweb, by Korean Jee-Woon Kim, a comedy about a director who decides to imprison his film’s critics until he produces a masterpiece.
7 films “outside the box” + 2 surprise films
From the vast programme and at the request of the Lisbon Agenda Cultural, Susana Santos Rodrigues also suggests seven films not to be missed.
One of them, in the opening session: I’m Not Everything I Want to be, a portrait of photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková, nicknamed “Nan Goldin of Czechoslovakia”, an unconventional figure who together with director Klára Tasovská come to Lisbon to present the documentary. Another is the closing film: Dream Scenario, by director Kristoffer Borgli, author of one of the sensational films of the last edition, Fed Up with Myself, with Nicholas Cage playing an insignificant biology professor who, suddenly, becomes famous for appearing in the dreams of many people.
No Other Land, made by a Palestinian collective, about the destruction that Israel causes in its attempt to occupy larger swathes of land; Fidai Film, by Kamal Aljafari, which rebels against the theft of memories from a country, Palestine; Rotting In The Sun, by Sebastián Silva, a film with enormous sarcasm, which nevertheless has incredibly moving moments; The Afterlight, by Charlie Shackleton, where dead actors from all over the world come back to life creating a cast of angels and ghosts; La Chimera, by Alice Rohrwacher, which follows an archaeologist in search of ancient treasures and impossible desires; The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, by Joanna Arnow, who directs, stars in, writes and edits her first feature film, a comical mosaic of experiences and finally, In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, by Alex Gibney, about the musician and composer, Paul Simon, complete the list of recommendations.
For the first time, two surprise films are also scheduled to be shown on the last weekend of the festival and about which information will only be available closer to the screening date. Two well-kept secrets to challenge the most curious.
Knitting at the Festival
Susana Santos Rodrigues also highlights an unlikely moment of Knitting at the Festival, which has as its starting point the screening of the film Between Rocks and Clouds, by Franco García Becerra. “This beautiful feature film that takes place in Peru tells the story of an eight-year-old boy, a lover of family, football and nature, who is an alpaca herder.” Parallel to the screening of the film, Indie invited a local knitting club, interested parties and enthusiasts of working with yarn, to teach spectators of all ages how to knit, with needles or their fingers.
The rest of the festival programme and more details about these suggestions are available here.
This year, Open Conventos begins on the 22nd, with a presentation to organizers and partners, followed, on the 23rd, by a conference at Brotéria (from 5 pm), and the screening of the film Into Great Silence by Philip Gröning, about monastic life in the Grande Chartreuse monastery, motherhouse of the Order of Carthusians (Convent of São Pedro de Alcântara, at 8:30 pm).
On May 24th and 25th, former and current convents and monasteries open their doors to the general public who can also, through the website quovadislisboa.com, set out on a free route to discover a true network made up of this unique heritage of Lisbon. With the precious help of Quo Vadis Lisboa, we propose a brief look at five important religious houses in the capital that you can discover in detail in this edition of Open Conventos.
Mosteiro do Santíssimo Sacramento
Calçada do Combro, 84
This majestic example of Johannine Baroque is currently the Parish Church of Santa Catarina and the headquarters of the GNR District Command. It began to be built in 1647, having received the first 30 religious of the São Paulo First Hermit Order, from Serra de Ossa in Alentejo, in 1649. A few years later, the church began to be built, consecrated as a temple in December 1680 in a ceremony where King D. Pedro II may have been present.
The 1755 earthquake caused extensive damage to the church, with the stone vault collapsing. The new ceiling of the nave and sacristy received a monumental stucco decoration by the Swiss master plasterer Giovanni Grossi, highlighting also the canvases by André Gonçalves (c.1685 -1762) – a very important artist in the collection of the Casa Professa de São Roque – and Vieira Lusitano (1699-1783). In 1835, it became the Parish Church of Santa Catarina.
In addition to the treasures displayed in the sacristy, a panel of tiles from the beginning of the 18th century, representing episodes from the life of São Paulo Ermita, is one of the many attractions for the visit.
Casa Professa de São Roque
Largo Trindade Coelho
Intended to protect the population of Lisbon from the plague, D. Manuel ordered a relic of Saint Roque from Venice. To accommodate it, a hermitage was built in 1506 which, years later, donated to the Jesuits, gave rise to the order’s Professed House and the Church of São Roque, from the second half of the 16th century onwards, the headquarters of the Society of Jesus.
Inside the temple, the Mannerist and Baroque interior combines the best marble, gilded carving, painting, sculpture and tiles, highlighting the chapel of São João Baptista, commissioned by D. João V from Roman architects, built in Rome and sent to Lisbon in 1742. Four years after the great earthquake, which did not structurally damage the building, the Marquis of Pombal promulgates the “Law given for the proscription, denaturalization and expulsion of the regulars of the Society of Jesus”. The Church, the Casa Professa and the entire collection were donated, in 1768, to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Lisbon.
Classified as a national monument in 1910, in addition to the temple, the building currently houses the São Roque Museum and its notable (and unmissable) collection of Portuguese sacred art.
Mosteiro de São Vicente de Fora
Largo de São Vicente
The current building, in Mannerist style, designed by Filippo Terzi and Juan de Herrera, was built in 1582 by King Philip I of Portugal. The name “Fora”(“outside”) is justified because it is located outside the old Cerca Moura, since the founder of the first temple was D. Afonso Henriques, a deep devotee of São Vicente, in 1147.
Occupied by canons of the Regular Order of Saint Augustine, from its foundation until 1834, the date of the extinction of religious orders, the monastery keeps in memory the passage of Saint Anthony, as it was here that he lived his first days as a monk. Currently, the building hosts the services of the diocesan curia and is the place where the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon governs the diocese.
In addition to the curia, administrative services and Patriarchal Court, São Vicente de Fora also houses a museum that seeks to record the most important moments in the history and legacy of the Patriarchate of Lisbon. Unmissable on any visit, the wonderful 19th century organ, the monumental canopy over the main altar designed by Machado de Castro, and the panoramic view of Lisbon and the Tagus from the terrace.
Convento de São Domingos de Lisboa
Largo de São Domingos
In one of the city’s most cosmopolitan squares stands the São Domingos Parish Church, a temple belonging to the first Dominican convent in Lisbon, founded in 1241. On the grounds surrounding the complex, the so-called Horta dos Frades, the Royal Hospital of All Saints was built from 1492 onwards.
Strongly affected by the 1755 Earthquake, the Convent of São Domingos was radically altered by the Baixa reconstruction project, namely with the construction of dormitories in the large block that delimits Rossio Square. After the extinction of religious orders, in the 19th century, the convent area was partially demolished with the opening of Rua de Dom Antão de Almada and Travessa Nova de São Domingos.
Although it suffered a violent fire in 1959, which destroyed practically the entire interior and roof, the current Church of São Domingos stands out, above all, for its symbolic heritage, since those condemned to the burnings of the Inquisition left from here in procession, but some of the royal weddings and baptisms were also celebrated here.
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
Praça do Império
Classified as UNESCO world heritage site in 1983, it is impossible not to mention the grand monastery without mentioning the two Manueline portals, the vaults of the church’s naves, the Mannerist altarpiece in the main chapel and its baroque silver tabernacle, or its cloister with a profusion of detailed decorations with maritime and exotic elements. And, of course, the royal tombs and those of Luís Vaz de Camões and Vasco Gama.
Ordered to be built by decision of D. Manuel in 1496 for the monks of the Order of Saint Jerome, the best example of Manueline religious architecture, under the design of Diogo Boitaca, João de Castilho and Nicolau de Chanterenne, it succeeded a small hermitage dedicated to Saint Maria de Belém – in fact, the name of the current church is precisely this -, ordered to be built a few years earlier by Infante D. Henrique, next to the old beach of Belém.
It is said that it took more than 100 years to build, channeling much of the so-called “Vintena da Pimenta” during the golden period of the Discoveries, that is, the equivalent of 70 kilograms of gold per year.
Situated in the region where the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers flow into the Bay of Bengal, in South Asia, Bangladesh is marked by lush vegetation and many canals. Most of the country is low-lying plains, fertilized by floods from the many rivers and waterways that cross them. But rivers, during the flood season, also cause great destruction in the most rural areas.
This is, in fact, one of the biggest problems the country faces and, therefore, Marina Tabassum, in a work that responds to the social problems of communities and climate challenges, taking advantage of local resources and knowledge, designed, together with her team, a low-cost modular and portable construction system. “Many people lose their homes due to rain or lose makeshift shelters in fires”, says the Bengali architect and educator.
In Materials, Movements and Architecture in Bangladesh, Tabassum presents some of her works built since 1995. Among them, stand out responses to urgent problems, such as the living conditions of the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees or the transformations imposed by the rise of sea level, like a life-size model of one of the houses she designed, entirely made of bamboo, which makes the homes airy, safe and accessible.
Working in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, Tabassum, who has sought to establish an architectural practice that is both contemporary and rooted in place, develops ideas that range from how to use resources to community involvement strategies. In her internationally recognized work, the architect takes advantage of the characteristics of materials and explores light to qualify the physical dimensions of the space. Furthermore, and according to curator André Tavares, one of her main advantages is the ability to “carry out major transformations through small interventions”.
The exhibition, which is also curated by Vera Simone Bader, brings together installations, videos, photographs and everyday objects from these populations, and also aims to bring good news from Bangladesh, sharing in Europe the lively intellectual scene fueled by the flow of rivers in that country.
Materials, Movements and Architecture in Bangladesh can be visited until September 22.
Pedestrian trails and cycle paths, parks, gardens and viewpoints make Monsanto the ideal place for a day spent with family, friends or even alone. We propose a walking tour in the Park, one of many possible, which allows you to appreciate its scenic beauty and use some of its equipments.
MORNING
Mata de São Domingos de Benfica is one of the possible entrances for pedestrians or cyclists in Monsanto and a good start for a day of outdoor activity. Exploring the park with a walk along one of the walking trails is the best way to enjoy the calmest, greenest corners. The first stop is at Monsanto Interpretation Center, which serves as the reception for the Monsanto Forest Park. It has a public service area, the Documentation and Information Center, an auditorium and organizes exhibitions, workshops and visits. There you can rest before resuming the path towards Parque do Calhau which, with its large clearings, offers a maintenance circuit and a magnificent viewpoint over the east of the city. Leaving this park, and continuing south along the Water Route, you arrive at Alto da Serafina Recreational Park.
LUNCH
At Alto da Serafina Recreational Park, or Parque dos Índios (Indians Park), you can take a lunch break, using the picnic area for a picnic or, alternatively, the restaurant. Next, it is possible to explore the various recreational facilities, aimed at different age groups: playgrounds, a children’s driving school, an adventure park and the viewpoint where you can enjoy a stunning view over the city. Large lawns, trees and bushes, the presence of a small lake in Praça dos Ciprestes invite you to relax.
AFTERNOON
Continuing along the Vila Pouca – Bela Vista route, the path leads to Alvito Recreational Park, in the south. Here, there is also a varied range of recreational, sports and leisure equipments. It’s the ideal space to rest on the lawns, surrounded by woodland. The children’s playground invites the little ones to have very fun moments. There are also picnic and restaurant areas, a sports center and an amphitheater. Leaving Alvito it is possible to walk along Alameda Keil do Amaral, which allows walking and cycling and has a maintenance circuit for the elderly, a skate park, a picnic area, a dog park and a kiosk with a terrace. To end the day, there is nothing better than watching the sunset at the Keil do Amaral amphitheater, which is also a viewpoint with a unique view of the city of Lisbon.
The European Capital of Innovation award, awarded to the city at the end of 2023, legitimizes this claim. It also brings one million euros that the Unicorn Factory intends to invest in projects that put technology at the service of social innovation and the fight against exclusion. In this sector that wants to change the city, not everything is accessible, but there is room for everyone. We present four spaces where ideas are born and take shape.
HUB CRIATIVO DO BEATO
Rua da Manutenção, 71
hubcriativobeato.com
It is one of the main addresses of innovation in Lisbon and this is, precisely, the main selection criterion for companies and projects that set up shop here. Occupying the factory area of the Former Military Maintenance, Hub Criativo do Beato will, when fully rehabilitated, be one of the largest spaces of its kind in Europe, with capacity for 3000 jobs. Of the 18 buildings in the complex, five have been restored and 15 are under contract, project manager José Mota Leal tells us.
The offices of Web Summit and Unicorn Factory are located here, a structure that, in just two years, attracted 54 new technology centers to Lisbon, coming from 23 countries. Here large multinational companies such as Sixt operate, information technologies are developed (Claranet), art is combined with technology (Interactive TechnoIogies Institute) and bacteria are transformed into protein (Microharvest). For now, the presence of services is noticeable with the Square, a restaurant and market area where national products have exclusivity.
A museum, to be installed in the old Grinding Factory, is expected to open soon, and a co-living space.
CIM – CENTRO DE INOVAÇÃO DA MOURARIA
Travessa dos Lagares, 1
facebook.com/mourariacreativehub
It was the first municipal incubator to support projects and business ideas in the areas of cultural and creative industries, such as design, media, fashion, music, tiles, jewelry, among others. In addition to providing fully equipped jobs, tailored training and consultancy, or a wide network of mentors, CIM also provides support for incubation services in terms of management, marketing, legal advice, product and service development and financing.
At the moment, the center has 13 projects in development, mainly in the areas of fashion design, communication design, design for sustainability, product or textile design, which arrive there “through calls or open applications throughout the year”, says Rosário Pedrosa, CIM’s coordinator. “After the selection is made, the projects are incubated for a maximum period of four years, during which each project can have up to four jobs,” she adds.
“Our main focus is working for residents, with workshops, masterclasses, open days, speed dating, etc., but we also work for creatives in general, as well as for the community”, highlights Rosário Pedrosa.
FABLAB LISBOA
Rua Maria da Fonte, 4 – Mercado do Forno do Tijolo
fablablisboa.pt
“FabLab is a place where you can do almost anything. And its main objective is training. Always has been and always will be.” It is André Martins, coordinator of the space, who guarantees it. “We do this training through the democratization of access to tools, namely digital manufacturing and prototyping tools”, he adds. Almost anything can be done there, as the primary purpose of this laboratory-workshop is to transform ideas into reality.
Open since 2013, it operates in Mercado do Forno do Tijolo and offers accessible and safe industrial equipment, such as small and large milling machines, laser cutting and vinyl cutting machines, 3D printers, an electronics bench, computers and their respective computer programming tools supported by CAD and CAM software.
Being accessible to citizens, by appointment, FabLab promotes open days on Mondays and Tuesdays, where the use of the machines is free, always under the watchful eye of the responsible team. This space for sharing knowledge and experiences is, according to André Martins, “increasingly a laboratory that has an impact on the city”.
BIOLAB LISBOA
Rua Maria da Fonte, 4 – Mercado do Forno do Tijolo
biolablisboa.pt
It was born in 2022 as a spin-off of FabLab and with sustainability in its DNA. It is a research, experimentation and prototyping laboratory, whose operation is ensured, in partnership, by the Lisbon City Council and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. Open to all citizens, it prioritizes ideas and projects that bring added value to the city, as Rafael Calado, the coordinator of the space, tells us.
Access to the laboratory is by invitation, spontaneous application or during open days that take place every Thursday. You don’t need to be a scientist or have knowledge of science, as Calado says, recalling the case of a Repair Café regular who asked for help to create soap packaging from almond shells. However, many researchers from various areas of knowledge seek out BioLab to develop their projects.
Currently, and at the proposal of the team that runs this space, a group of designers is experimenting with algae in prototypes of utilitarian objects. The laboratory has 3 levels of biological safety and an ethics charter that defines the limits of what can and cannot be done here.
Maria Lamas (1893–1983) was perhaps one of the most notable Portuguese women of the 20th century. Although a certain memory persists of her political affirmation and action as a communist militant during the Estado Novo and her “self-exile” in Paris, the truth is that her literary and journalistic work is practically forgotten, with very few of her books available in the market. Even less remembered is her side as a photographer, impressive indeed, as Jorge Calado says, “due to such a large number of masterpieces” in such a short collection.
“Extraordinarily modern”, Maria Lamas’ photographs had never been exhibited in Portugal, and are now the focus of this exhibition. As Mulheres de Maria Lamas brings together a selection of 65 of the photographs that she captured, essentially, in rural areas in the center of the country.
Exemplary testimonies of the condition of Portuguese women during the Salazar dictatorship, mostly vintage samples (of the time), small in size, but also some enlargements, the exhibition also displays evidence from the time of other photographers, such as Adelino Lyon de Castro, Artur Pastor or Maria T. Mendonça, included, alongside those by Lamas, in As Mulheres do Meu País, a work published for the first time in installments between 1948 and 1950.
Despite the list of illustrious photographers featured in the book, Lamas’ photographs stand out for their truth and vivacity, constituting in themselves an absolutely unique work in the history of Portuguese photography. Surprisingly, she became a photographer almost accidentally, imbued with her spirit as a militant fighter and opponent of the regime. “She had never taken photographs and used the most basic camera available, the Kodak box model, which did not allow for the possibility of focusing”, recalls Calado.
In addition to the images, personal objects of Maria Lamas are also on display, as well as her portrait painted by Júlio Pomar, in 1954, and the plaster bust sculpted, in 1929, by Júlio de Sousa. The section dedicated to literary and journalistic works includes copies of first editions of the author’s fundamental works, namely in the field of children’s literature, poetry and fiction, translations of classics of youth literature and some journalism.
Although he is here in the role of the curator, professor Jorge Calado does not hide the emotional side with which he designed this exhibition. For him, Maria Lamas is a “heroine”, “the most notable Portuguese woman of the 20th century”, never failing to highlight “her genius” in her work and life. “I have admired her since I was a boy. And, as I grew up, she became an even greater hero, largely due to her opposition to the dictatorship”, he says, adding that, “on the other hand, I also admire her a lot for having been a generous and loving woman in her relationships, not only with family but also with friends. She was an admirable person, always ready to help others.”
Therefore, the exhibition seeks to “reveal a relatively unknown side of Lamas, as well as honor the woman she was”. “Maria Lamas fought to liberate women, not as women, but as citizens and as human beings. It wasn’t about women’s rights, it was about human rights,” he adds. The Women of Maria Lamas is open to the public until May 28.
When São Luiz reopens in September, after the summer holidays, attention will focus on the return to the municipal theater of Brazilian playwright, director and director Christiane Jatahy.
Revealed in Portugal at the beginning of the century, Jatahy has been a constant presence in the European theatrical circuit, highlighting the status that Lisbon attributed to him, in 2018, as Artist in the City. Noted for his versions of the classics of Strindberg and Chekhov, Jatahy stands out in the particularly inventive, and even radical and subversive way, as it combines the languages of theater and cinema.
Recently distinguished in Venice with the Golden Lion, Jatahy presents The Now That Takes Time: Our Odyssey II, successor of Itaca (2018), a show premiered precisely in Teatro São Luiz, and which follows the very particular look of the creator on The Odyssey of Homer.
Regarding disturbing and creative forms of dialogue between theater and cinema, on April 6 and 7 next year, São Luiz presents, for the first time, a creation of the most noteable Katie Mitchell. In a co-production with the Berlin Schaubühne, Virginia Woolf’s chilling classic Orlando is translated into a “live cinema” version where all of Mitchell’s virtuosity is shaped in the technical domain and in the scene, in what will most likely be one of the most anticipated moments of the theatrical season in Lisbon.
Still on the international level, another return to Lisbon: Pippo Delbonno. The Italian director was challenged by Teatro São Luiz to create a show about the city of Tagus, while exploring its connection with Africa, especially Cape Verde and Angola.
It was one of the priorities of the current artistic direction of São Luiz to seek to give, over the years, a growing role to female creators. This season, Beatriz Batarda revisits a musical comedy she directed in the main theater room in 2011, with texts by Karl Valentin. More than a decade later, the director presents, with the same cast (Bruno Nogueira and Luísa Cruz, who now joins Rita Cabaço), Another Bizarre Salad (February 2023).
Other featured creators are Cucha Carvalheiro, with the premiere of the original of his own Fonte da Raiva, which she owns alongside a luxury cast, where they score Filomena Cautela, Manuela Couto or Sandra Faleiro; Olga Roriz, who choreographs an emblematic play by the German playwright Peter Handke, The time when we knew nothing of each other; and Rita Lello in Isadora, Fala!, a solo dedicated to the American dancer, forerunner of modern ballet, Isadora Duncan.
The full program can be found on the São Luiz Teatro Municipal website.
It was the roaring ’20s. Europe was leaving behind the war and the Spanish flu pandemic, incoming a period of euphoria. In The Lisbon of the First Republic, and although it was a peripheral capital, artistic and cultural life began to swarm with the fashions arrived from major cities such as Paris, London and New York.
But if Lisbon also longed to dance the charleston and the foxtrot, the popular taste continued seduced by carousels and wax figures, pim pam pum stalls and target shooting, tascas, displays of master animals and “freaks” of fair, animators and saltimbancos.
It was to seek to recreate the atmosphere of the traditional popular fairs that have been swarming the city since the 19th century, adding it to the breath of sophistication of the times, which, at the back of the Lima Mayer Palace (now the Consulate of Spain in Lisbon), more specifically in its garden, the so-called Sociedade Avenida Parque, led by theatrical entrepreneur Luís Galhardo, inaugurated, on June 15, 1922, the Parque Avenue, or Parque Mayer fair.
The triumph of Revista à portuguesa
Those days, teatro de Revista, or Revista à portuguesa, was a theatrical genre of markedly popular taste, with lots of music and several comic scenes, and everybody loves it. On July 1st, 100 years ago, Parque Mayer saw the first of its theaters, the Maria Vitória Theater, open its doors, with Lua Nova [New Moon].
Interestingly, the first of the theaters to open was the one that, in Parque Mayer, almost uninterruptedly remained in operation over these 100 years, even though it was beset in 1986 by a violent fire. Currently, and at the initiative of Hélder Freire Costa, Teatro Maria Vitória remains the last bulwark of the magazine theater in Lisbon, debuting, year after year, a new show of Revista à portuguesa.
On July 8, 1926, in Parque Mayer opened a new theater, the Teatro Variedades [Varieties], with the premiere of the show of Revista Pó de Arroz. Alongside the stalls of food and drinks, fado and fashion dances, Parque Mayer was increasingly the place of excellence of fun and bohemia in the city of Lisbon.
Then, and always under the aegis of Revista à portuguesa, a genre that so caryby by Estado Novo became a school of opposition and resistance to political censorship and customs, opened the Teatro Capitólio (built in 1931 and rehabilitated and reopened in 2016) and the Teatro ABC Theater (founded in 1956, demolished in the 1990s and transformed into a car park).
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