Festivals & events – All our local tips

The overbearingly grand headquarters of one of the country’s largest banks might not be most people’s idea of the best situation for one of Lisbon’s most exciting and inventive cultural institutions.

Yet here is Culturgest, consisting of two auditori which house concerts, theatre (Portuguese and touring foreign productions) and other cultural events, and also a gallery with regularly changing exhibitions from exciting artists.

Recent productions that have caught the eye have included an interpretation of William Faulkner’s The Sound and The Fury and uncatogrisable Once and for all we’re gonna tell you who we are so shut up and listen, a magical performance of theatre by a troupe of Dutch teenagers.

Culturgest is also the home of the annual DocLisboa festival where it plays host to screenings, workshops and interviews with the filmmakers.

Helpfully the website is regularly updated and is in Portuguese and English and there is a sister institution in Porto.

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Culturgest | Art & culture, Music, Festivals & events
Edifício Sede da Caixa Geral de Depósitos | Avenidas
Mon & Wed – Fri 11:00 – 19:00, Sat – Sun 14:00 – 20:00

The centre of Lisbon is full of beautiful squares and esplanades but most of the tourists, and most of the locals too, seem to overlook what in my eyes is the most interesting and beautiful square – Praça Martim Moniz.

Located between Praça da Figueira and the foot of the castle hill this area is as close to a Chinatown (or indeed an Indiatown) as Lisbon has. The area surrounding the square is largely immigrant in nature, with an African, Indian and Chinese mixture that really isn’t seen anywhere else in the city centre. This can lead to rather interesting cultural crossovers such as the (semi) regular world music concerts that are held in the square and the surrounding area, or even the strange sight, that confronted me the other week, of children playing cricket in the street.

The square features two of the most impressive water-features in the city, my favourite being the one which represents the siege of Lisbon which helped create the myth of Martim Moniz – the brave soldier who apparently threw his body in the way of the closing castle door, sacrificing himself to liberate Lisbon from the Moors.

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Praça Martim Moniz | Relaxing, Festivals & events
Praça Martim Moniz | Liberdade
24 hours daily