The cultural scene in Lisbon today is a vibrant collage of old and new, as the ghosts of Lisbon’s grand past echo evocatively around the city’s contemporary venues. Lisbon offers a formidable number of venues and companies can often be found performing in a wide variety of sites, such as outdoor parks and national palaces.
The fortnightly
Follow me Lisboa publishes cultural listings. Event tickets are available for purchase from the
Agência de Billetes para Espectáculos Públicos (
ABEP); there is a kiosk
in the southeast corner of Praça dos Restauradores.
Ticket Line (tel: 707 234 234; website:
www.ticketline.pt) also offers tickets to many popular shows.
Music: The
Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa (Portuguese Symphony Orchestra) is based at the
Teatro Camões, located at the former Expo 98 site, in the Parque das Nações (tel: (21) 892 3470). The
Gulbenkian Orchestra and
Gulbenkian Choir perform at one of the concert halls and the open-air amphitheater of the
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Avenida de Berna 45A (tel: (21) 782 3700; website:
www.gulbenkian.pt), adjacent to the museum.
The
Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Rua Serpa Pinto 9 (tel: (21) 325 3045; website:
www.saocarlos.pt), is where opera productions are staged during the September to June season. Classical concerts are also held here. Other classical music ensembles include the
Sinfonietta de Lisboa, based at the
Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, and the
Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa. Another major venue for music is the
Coliseu dos Recreios, Rua das Portas Santo Antão 92 (tel: (21) 324 0585; website:
www.coliseulisboa.com).
Theater: Among Lisbon’s attractive theaters, the
Teatro Nacional de Dona Maria II, Praça de Dom Pedro IV, Rossio (tel: (21) 325 0835; website:
www.teatro-dmaria.pt), is the most striking. Theater and opera productions are also hosted in the
Pequeno and Grande Auditório (Small and Large Auditoria) of the
Centro Cultural de Belém, Praça do Império (tel: (21) 361 2400; website:
www.ccb.pt).
Most theater performance in Lisbon is, naturally, in Portuguese, although there are also some English-language productions. The classics are still well liked, despite the fact that contemporary Portuguese and political work is becoming increasingly popular. The
Artistas Unidos, Rua Campo de Ourique 120 (tel: (21) 370 0120; website:
www.artistasunidos.pt), is an alternative company that specializes in political theater.
Dance: The Portuguese National Ballet,
Companhia Nacional de Bailado (website:
www.cnb.pt), is based at the
Teatro Camões, located at the former Expo 98 site, in the Parque das Nações (tel: (21) 892 3470). Other venues that host dance performances are the
Centro Cultural de Belém, Praça do Império (tel: (21) 361 2400; website:
www.ccb.pt), and the
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Avenida de Berna 45A (tel: (21) 782 3700; website:
www.gulbenkian.pt).
Film: Films are almost always shown in the original language, with subtitles in Portuguese. For English-language films, the best bets are the multiplexes in the larger shopping centers. The
Diário de Notícias newspaper has film listings. Mainstream theaters include
Amoreiras, Avenida Engengeiro Duarte Pacheco (tel: (707) 246 362; website:
www.amoreiras.com), and
Colombo, Centro Colombo, Avenida Luisada (tel: (21) 711 3600; website:
www.colombo.pt). Arthouse film fans are also catered for at the
Londres, Avenida de Roma 7A (tel: (21) 840 1313).
The world’s oldest taxi driver and his 1928 Oldsmobile are the stars of the film
Táxi Lisboa (1996).
Literary Notes: Portugal’s most famous writer was Luís de Camões, whose 16th-century poem
Os Lusíadas (1572) captured the spirit of the Portuguese Empire. The other famous name is poet Fernando Pessoa, born in Lisbon in 1888. In addition to his poems, Pessoa was involved with
Orpheu magazine (founded in 1914), which made a significant contribution to the cultural discourse of the time. José Saramago, the Portuguese native who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998, is the author of the 1989 tome,
História de Cerco de Lisboa (
The History of the Siege of Lisbon), a fanciful retelling of the 1147 siege of the city.
Lisbon also appears in other nations’ works of literature. The 1755 earthquake, for example, serves as an important symbol in Voltaire’s
Candide (1759). Henry Fielding moved to Lisbon for health reasons and died here, after completing the
Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon (1755). Other more recent works include Mario de Sa-Carneiro’s
The Great Shadow (circa 1915), a collection of short stories set in Lisbon, and Cees Nooteboom’s
The Following Story (1991), a surreal tale of a teacher who falls asleep in Amsterdam and awakes in Lisbon. Robert Wilson’s
A Small Death in Lisbon (2000) is a colorful novel delving into intrigues of corruption and double-dealing, as it switches between WWII and the late 1990s. Pascal Mercier’s cerebral novel
Night Train to Lisbon (2007) also evokes the city well.
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