Located in the heart of Parque Mayer, the Capitólio reopened in 2016, after extensive rehabilitation and adaptation works. It was awarded the Valmor Prize in the same year.
This cultural space hosts multidisciplinary artistic projects of interest to the city and all different types of audiences. In so doing, it positions itself as a venue open to cultural promoters from across the city and the country.
The National Society of Fine Arts is an association of painters, sculptors, architects, architectural and visual artists. It was established in 1901 from the merger of the Grémio Artístico, founded by Silva Porto, with the Sociedade Promotora de Belas Artes, founded in 1860.
The SNBA’s mission is to promote art and artists through exhibitions and public initiatives, including artistic training courses (practical and theoretical), workshops, congresses and debates, publishing and launching books, as well as conservation and restoration of its artistic collections, legacies and historical archives, Including its library.
In its activity, it has hosted major retrospectives, awards and fairs for contemporary and antique art, auctions and other initiatives, and has exhibited important holdings and collections.
Visiting hours
Weekdays: 12 am-07 pm / Saturday: 02 pm – 07 pm.
Closed on Sundays and public holidays.
Free entry
Rehabilitated and revitalized, one of the oldest bookstores in Lisbon has just revealed itself to the city filled with novelties. Among the greatest names in literature and books on current major issues, Buchholz is once again selling records, works of art, promoting concerts, and hosting conversations. And there’s more: an exhibition of personal objects belonging to authors, including manuscripts by José Saramago and António Lobo Antunes.
Between a return to the past and a leap into the future, Buchholz has a new lease on life firmly rooted in the present. Celebrating its 80 years of stories, the Duque de Palmela’s street bookstore presents itself with a fresh face, emphasizing renowned names in literature and thought, a heightened focus on giving space to new fiction authors, an expanded offering of foreign-language books, and numerous titles about the city of Lisbon. Graphic novels, books on visual arts and music also emerge with renewed vigor, complementing spaces dedicated to vinyl records and works by Portuguese artists – two commitments to independent curation led by Flur Discos and Icon Shop.
The three wooden-clad floors connected by a monumental spiral staircase are once again hosting cycles of conversations, concerts, and wine tastings, among many other initiatives. In an increasingly digital world, this is a commitment to analog and untransmissible interaction. The topics range from literature to major contemporary issues. After a day of study or work, the people of Lisbon have a new space for gathering and enjoyment.
This is one of the only historic cinemas in Lisbon that is still functioning, taking on the role of promoting and disseminating the seventh art and the critical thinking associated with it, as well as promoting other cultural activities such as music, theatre, or dance performances.
In 1945, some jazz or HOT music enthusiasts were already meeting in brothers Sangareau’s house. Luiz Villas-Boas, Ivo and Augusto Mayer brothers, Gérard de Castelo Lopes and Helena Villas-Boas gathered to exchange records, to listen the news and play. The group expanded and organized, in a more or less informal way, through jazz sessions with Portuguese musicians and foreigners who, while passing through Lisbon, were invited to join.
With the ground set up to found a Jazz club (since a radio program had been gathering potential members since 1948), this group, led by Luiz Villas-Boas, went a step forward: its formalization. On the March 16th 1950, the Statutes of Hot Clube de Portugal were approved with the slogan “Disclosure of Jazz Music”.
From this date on, Modern Music Festivals were organized, as well as concerts featuring famous musicians like Sidney Bechet or Countie Basie and many Jam Sessions. The definitive establishment in Praça da Alegria took place in the early 1950s.The 2009 fire, which destroyed the basement of No. 39, forced the Hot Clube relocation to some doors below, to the No. 48.
Hot Clube de Portugal is one of the oldest jazz clubs of Europe and it is, for sure, the one who keeps working continuously for so long. DownBeat magazine, a reputed American jazz magazine, considers Hot Clube de Portugal one of the 100 best jazz clubs in the world. The English newspaper The Guardian places Hot Clube in Europe´s 10 best jazz clubs.
The importance of Hot Clube in Portuguese society was officially recognized first in 1995, by the granting of the declaration of Public Utility and, more recently, when it received the Almada Negreiros Prize in 2001 and the Cultural Merit Medal in 2004, both awarded by the Ministry of Culture. It also received the Medal of Honor of the City in 2005, awarded by Lisbon City hall.
Located in the center of Lisbon and classified as a National Monument (February 2015), the Tivoli Theater is a cultural icon of national reference. Inaugurated on November 30, 1924, the Tivoli Theater has reinvented itself over the years, adapting itself to the evolution of the proposals in the areas of shows and events.
If in its genesis a cinema hall was intended, theater and ballet quickly conquered the space and the audience. Today, its varied program hosts plays, dances, concerts, humor festivals, attracting audiences of all ages with the diversity of its programming. Today and always, The perfect stage for any event!
Situated in central Lisbon, the decorative arts collection gathered by António de Medeiros e Almeida (1895-1986) is displayed in his former residence, which was turned into a museum in 1972.
The collection, presented in 27 galleries, comprises Portuguese and foreign pieces belonging to a variety of art forms – including furniture, painting, sculpture, textiles and sacred art – dating from the 2nd century BC to the 20th century CE.
Four collections – watches and clocks, Chinese porcelain, silverworks and fans – are highlighted in specific galleries. António de Medeiros e Almeida was a figure of prominence in Portuguese business, with major interests in the motor trade, commercial aviation, and the Azorean sugar industry. The success of his business activities provided the means allowing him simultaneously to pursue the collection of works of art.
In 1924 he married Margarida Pinto Basto (1898-1971), and in 1943 they bought a Parisian-style mansion in central Lisbon. After remodelling works, they settled in in 1946.
The flourishing of his business ventures following World War II, gave him access to the international art market, allowing him to frequent the foremost European auction houses and antique dealers and to gain a reputation as a grand collector.
At the beginning of the sixties the couple began to make plans to ensure that their collection would be preserved intact.
In 1972, António created the Medeiros e Almeida Foundation with the mission of “… providing the country with a house-museum …”, which was open to the public in 2001.
The Museum building comprises two different areas: the Old Wing that was inhabited by Medeiros e Almeida, which has been kept essentially as it was then; and the New Wing built over the former garden, which consists mainly of reconstituted ambiances with wood panelling, painted ceilings and sumptuous decoration.
The collection, of which about 2000 pieces are on permanent display, reflects a very eclectic taste of French predominance. There are so many stories… you need to come and visit the Museum. From Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5pm