Grand Auditorium

The Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon had its inaugural concert on the 3rd of October 1969, the day after the official inauguration of this complex. With exceptional acoustics, its design and construction were aimed at hosting many cultural activities, including symphonic and choral-symphonic music, congresses and conferences, ballet, theater and cinema. The hall was designed by the Portuguese architects Alberto Pessoa, Pedro Cid e Ruy d’ Athouguia and by the British acoustician William Alexander Allen. Renovated in 2014, with ARUP as acoustic consultant, the Great Hall has a capacity for 1203 people, spread over 36 rows on 3 different levels.

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Church

In 1746 the Church was already built and in use, with only the main chapel panel missing, and on the frontispiece the niche of Our Lady and the fires at its top, which was soon completed. The New Church is built to the south of the Hermitage and aligned with its axis, in tradition of the monastic architecture of the Order of Saint Bruno. To the west is the Small Cloister and its facilities for monastic community life. The architecture and distribution of the spaces of a Carthusian Church are at the service of a cult that obeys specific rules and statutes of the Order of St. Bruno, which is why the space presents characteristics specific to the Order.

The church, with a wide limestone facade, is topped by an image of the Virgin and Child and was built in the 18th century. Due to its excellent acoustics, this space has regularly hosted concerts by the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra and the Cascais and Oeiras Orchestra.

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Located in Ponta Delgada city, is the largest entertainment hall in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. Built in 1917, it was purchased, renovated and reopened by the Ponta Delgada City Hall in 2005. It can host a wide variety of events, including shows in a conventional auditorium and shows in a circus arena, even shows such as café-concerts, rock concerts, banquets, casino, congresses, fairs and dance balls.

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Church

Consecrated in 1252, it constitutes the first example of Portuguese Gothic architecture. Its large dimensions and remarkable elegance of proportions make this Church a perfect example of the stone/light dichotomy.

Its construction is believed to have begun in 1178, although the date of its completion is not fully known. The Church adopts the shape of a Latin cross (a symbol of Christianity) and is composed of the main nave and the transept, where the tombs of D. Pedro and D. Inês de Castro are located. The nave is divided into three: the central nave and the side naves, which served only as passageways.

Construction began with the transept, which consists of nine radiating chapels with a trapezoidal plan, connected to each other and to the transept by an ambulatory, and covered by barrel vaults. Light diffuses through the large rose window, the two side bays of the façade, the narrow crevices in the side walls, and also through the rose windows and small windows at both ends of the transept and the tall windows in the transept. The north transept provided direct access to the Monks’ Dormitory. At the opposite south end, beneath a large rose window and two large windows, the door to the Monks’ Cemetery, commonly called the “Gate of the Dead,” still stands.

The entire Church is supported by buttresses that, on the south wall of the naves and at the top of the south transept, align the torus arches and formwork.

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Sacristy

The Sacristy was built during the reign of King D. Manuel I, by order of the King himself. It was built according to plans by João de Castilho, and was worked on by João de Ruão, Nicolau Chanterene, and Rui Garcia. It was then transformed during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Sacristy consists of the main body, with a rectangular plan measuring approximately 28 meters long by 10 meters wide, and the Reliquary Chapel, located at its top. It has a ceiling height of approximately 10 meters.

In 1755, it was destroyed by an earthquake. Little remains of King D. Manuel I’s sacristy: only the entrance door, the vaulted atrium, and the buttresses on the outside.

The Sacristy has a beautiful Baroque carved ceiling and includes the remarkable closets for amices, a pair of 1664 pieces of furniture in exotic wood with ivory inlay. These pieces of furniture, which housed vestments and amice, are a remarkable example of inlaid technique and a testament to the aesthetic period of the monastic community, representing a significant portion of the monastery’s collection.

The Reliquary Chapel, of supreme beauty and spirituality, “The Mirror of Heaven” according to Reynaldo dos Santos, was built between 1669 and 1672, during the abbacy of Friar Constantino de Sampaio.

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Main Clouster of D. Dinis

The nerve centre of the entire abbey, a mandatory passageway for access to all the rooms, it was also a place for reading and meditation.

This is the only medieval cloister in the Monastery of Alcobaça. Built during the reign of King D. Dinis, presumably between 1308 and 1311, it was designed by Domingo Domingues and Mestre Diogo, and is one of the most beautiful in Portuguese Gothic architecture. Later, during the reign of King D. Manuel I (1495-1521), by order of Abbot Jorge de Melo, an upper floor (Sobreclaustro) was added, designed by João de Castilho.

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Refectory

Located next to the current kitchen, the Refectory is an impressive building, given its size, meticulous architecture, and structural complexity.

The interior consists of three vaulted naves, divided by two rows of four columns, lending harmony and spatial unity to the entire structure. Particularly noteworthy is the elegant Lector’s Pulpit, located to the west, where a monk performed the daily sacred readings during meals. Access to this pulpit is via a small staircase. There are two other passages: one directly accessing the now-disappeared medieval kitchen, and the other the corresponding courtyard.

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Dormitory

The Dormitory of the Monastery of Alcobaça is a large Gothic space on the first floor, accessed by a staircase discovered in 1930, where the monks slept communally.

It served as a dormitory where the monks slept together, clothed and separated by movable partitions, as individual cells were only permitted later. Over time, the space was altered with the construction of rooms below and the addition of a second floor in the 16th century. This second floor was removed in 1940 during restoration work. It features a large door that leads to the Church’s transept and a narrower door that, in the Middle Ages, led to the Calefactory.

Restored to its original medieval form, the Dormitory is today a very long and imposing space with three naves, vaulted ceilings, and access to a viewpoint above the Church, which offers views of the tombs of D. Pedro and D. Inês. The space has undergone several changes over the centuries and is now used for cultural events and exhibitions.

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Charola – Round Church and Main Body (3rd Floor)

Located on the 3rd floor, the Church of the Convent of Christ is made up of the Charola (or Rotunda) and of the Main Body of the church.

The Charola dates from the 12th century and is an early Templar Romanesque fortified oratory inspired by the Temple of Jerusalem, having its capitals on the central columns and the painting on stone allusive of St. Christopher, dating also from that period. The Main Body, built in the Manueline style from 1510-15 by Diogo Arruda and João de Castilho, includes the nave, the upper choir and the lower choir, and is joined to the Charola by means of an arch opened in the walls of the old oratory. The inner drum of the Rotunda would be turned into a chancel.

Between 1510-15 King Manuel I also commissioned the decorative interior of the Church, adding stucco, carved woodwork and the fresco and secco paintings. From that period are the wooden statues in the chancel and the upper choir stalls, now gone, by the Flemish sculptor Olivier de Gand and completed by Fernão Munhoz, and also a set of monumental wooden boards executed by the royal painter Jorge Afonso. The paintings on the peripheral altars of the Charola, by Gregório Lopes (1536-38) would also be added during the 16th century, as well as the decoration on the triumphal arch by Domingos Vieira Serrão and Simão de Abreu (1592-97).

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Main Cloister D. João III (1st Floor)

The Main Cloister (D. João III) is the magnum opus of the Renaissance convent built by King D. João III, outside the castle walls, and surrounding the nave with which his father, D. Manuel I, expanded the Templar church.

It is part of the group of four large cloisters around which the formal structure of convent space is based. Adjacent to the Church of the Convent, the D. João III Cloister flanks the south façade of the Manueline nave. Its design is different from the rest of Castilian convent architecture. Remade after the death of Diogo de Castilho, by Diogo de Torralva, in the Mannerist style of the Italian Cinquecento, this cloister will feature a graceful water fountain, from Fernandes Torres, fed by water from the conventual aqueduct. It is considered a masterpiece of the European Renaissance.

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Refectory (1st Floor)

The Refectory, built by João de Castilho during the great campaign of King João III, was probably finished between 1535 and 1536, according to the inscriptions on the pulpits that were reserved for reading during mealtimes.

It has very interesting vaulting ribs. The antechamber served as a pantry and gave access to the kitchen. The wine and olive oil cellars lay below the refectory, as did other rooms of agricultural nature, connected to the orange grove (Friars’ Garden) and the Convent enclosure. The present arrangement of the tables was due to later work, from the time of the Missions Seminary (Seminário das Missões), 1922-92.

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Cistern of the Crows’ Cloister (Basement)

The Cistern (of the Crows’ Cloister), built between 1543 and 1546 by João de Castilho, was probably used for irrigation. Castilho himself called this space the barn cloister. The Cistern has exclusive access via a small staircase, close to the door to the friars’ kitchen.

The quadrangular shaped Cistern has two double arcade galleries separated by buttresses, which rise to the 3rd register to the south and west, and coverings and supports identical to those of the Cloister of Micha. The block is surrounded by 4 bodies of 3 floors, with the south side occupied by the old granary (today the chapel), the north by the kitchen (ground floor) and the novitiate cells (1st floor) and the east side by the Refectory and the cells on the south arm of the dormitories.

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Great Hall

Located at Lisbon School of Education, has a maximum seating capacity for 300 persons and allows a variety of cultural events such as theatre, cinema, concerts, and conferences. The hall has a flat audience area, with individual chairs, and a circular shape balcony.

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Great Hall

Also called Vianna da Motta Auditorium is located at Lisbon School of Music. This room was designed by the Portuguese architect Carrilho da Graça and by the Belge acoustician Daniel Commins. The stage possesses a flat wooden floor on joists, the audience area is tilted approximately 20º in relation to the horizontal plane and has two wooden flights of stairs in between the rows of chairs. The walls surrounding the audience go continuously around the stage in a roughly trapezoidal shape and consist entirely of large-scale shape-optimized reflection phase grating diffusors.

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Small Hall

Located at Lisbon School of Music, this hall was designed by the Portuguese architect Carrilho da Graça. It has a seating capacity for 58 persons, with features that gives it versatility to host various cultural events, like music, conferences, theater, dance, and cinema.

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Organ Room

Located at Lisbon School of Music, this room is specific for organ music practicing and rehearsal, it also holds periodic performances for small groups.

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The Lourinhã Misericórdia Church dates from 1626, and its construction date is inscribed on the tympanum at the entrance. The facade of the church has a pointed gable, and the door is surmounted by a triangular tympanum, where the date 1626 and the phrase: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” are inscribed. In the building where the church is located, there is a Manueline portal of great artistic value, which belonged to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit.

The Church is currently part of the Museum Space of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Lourinhã. This space, in the heart of the village, presents a collection of inestimable value, with works of sacred art, liturgical objects and extremely relevant historical information to understand the role of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia as an active part in the development of the village of Lourinhã, over the last 450 years.

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Disco Room

A famous nightclub located in Lisbon that opened on the 29th of September 1998. Lux Frágil, besides being a bar and disco, has hosted concerts, performances, exhibitions, book presentations and recordings and was even on the set of many television programs.

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Basilica

The Basilica of the National Palace of Mafra is inspired by the great churches of Rome, it has one of the most significant collections of Italian sculpture of its time, with 58 statues, a large crucifix with archangels in adoration and three high reliefs, as well as an important set of painting, representative of some of the most famous painters active in Italy and France, in the early 1730s. The Basilica’s collection of vestments and liturgical implements is also very significant, due to its quality and rarity.

Also noteworthy is the bell ringing ensemble, with 120 bells, which comprise two of the largest carillons of the 18th century, cast in Antwerp and Liége in the workshops of Willem Witlockx and Nicolas Levache, respectively. The bells are associated with two clocks dating from the first half of the 18th century, as well as four automatons for automatic music.

Inside the Basilica there is a set of pipe organs, unique in the world, made up of six instruments designed to play together, built between 1792 and 1807 by Portuguese organ makers António Machado e Cerveira and Joaquim Peres Fontanes.

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Library

The Library of the National Palace of Mafra is one of the most iconic spaces in the monument. It is one of the largest European libraries from the 18th century, in a single room, measuring 1000 m2. Here there are around 30,000 volumes that reflect the main themes of Enlightenment culture, more rational and scientific, predominating religious themes, but also medicine, pharmacy, history, geography, literature, philosophy, architecture and art, law, literature, etc.

The installation of the shelves took place in 1776 but only in 1791 were the books distributed on them. At the beginning of the 19th century, Frei João de Santa Ana completed the second inventory of books and organized them as they still exist today, with the northern part reserved for religious themes, and the southern part, for exact sciences and civil themes.

In addition to printed books, there is also an important collection of music books, incunabula (works printed between 1455 and 1500, such as the Nuremberg Chronicle, from 1493), and a collection of handwritten and illuminated books, such as the Books of Hours, from the 15th century. In its archive, there is a vast collection of musical scores by various composers: Marcos de Portugal, João de Souza Carvalho, José Joaquim dos Santos, João José Baldi, among others, many of them destined for the Basilica’s organs.

Confirming the importance of the Library, Pope Benedict XIV granted it a bull in 1754, authorizing the keeping of books prohibited by the Index, works considered subversive or for dealing with themes condemned by the Church and the State.

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Church of Santa Engrácia

Founded at the behest of Infanta D. Maria (1521-1577), the Church of Santa Engrácia was intended to serve the new parish created by the Brief of Pope Pius V in 1568. Although little is known about the progress of the work in the first two decades of the 17th century, it is known that the architect was Nicolau de Frias, and in 1621 the work passed to Teodósio de Frias, his son. In 1630, the consecrated hosts, kept in the main chapel’s tabernacle, were stolen. Simão Solis, a New Christian, was accused and condemned to death by burning at the stake, where he swore that his innocence was as certain as the never-ending construction of Santa Engrácia.

The Brotherhood of the Slaves of the Blessed Sacrament was immediately created, with 100 nobles joining the church, committed to breaking the Solis curse. The construction of a new chancel was ordered, commissioned by architect Mateus do Couto, but it would collapse 50 years later. In 1681, master João Antunes (1643-1712) was chosen to build a new temple. At the time of his death, the church was still unfinished, and it remained unfinished throughout the 18th century.

With the abolition of religious orders in 1834, the Church of Santa Engrácia was handed over to the Army, which converted it into a barracks, then an arms factory, and later a shoe factory.

By decree of June 16, 1910, the church was declared a National Monument. The decision to convert it into a National Pantheon was made during the Republic in April 1916. However, military occupation of the property continued until the 1930s.

In 1956, several architects were invited to submit proposals for the building’s completion. Luís Amoroso Lopes considered the challenge and proposed a minimalist solution. He advocated the idea of ​​the monument as an object of restoration, with the dome being one of the rare innovative elements. In 1964, António de Oliveira Salazar decided to combat an image rooted in popular superstition (that of a never-ending construction project), ordering the building’s completion within two years. The inauguration would coincide with the regime’s 40th anniversary celebrations in 1966. At a particularly difficult time, it was important to show the Portuguese, and the world, how the Estado Novo had the power to destroy myths of incapacity.

Since then, the National Pantheon has had the mission of honouring and promoting the lives and works of the personalities it contains.

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Garrett Hall

Is the main hall of the National Theatre D. Maria II in Lisbon. The Garrett Hall was designed by the Italian architect Fortunato Lodi in a classic horseshoe shape and opened at 13th April 1846. In 1964, the theatre was destroyed by a fire, which led to a full reconstruction of the building, inaugurated in 1978. The restoration project focused on providing the best possible acoustic conditions, aiming at a 1 second reverberation time. Nowadays this hall is still mainly used for theatre performances, thus maintaining its original purpose.

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Main Opera Hall

The Main Hall of the São Carlos National Theatre is designed for Opera. By placing reflectors in the shape of an acoustic shell, the hall also offers excellent acoustic conditions for classical music concerts.

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Great Hall

The Great Hall of São Carlos National Theatre is on the 4th level of boxes of the Main Opera Hall and features rich internal decoration in the style of the end of the 18th century. It hosts recitals and concerts with different instrumental formations, opera readings and more intimate performances.

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Church

Inaugurated on the 21st of March 1994 by the Dominican Order as the first male catholic convent built in Lisbon since the last 250 years. Designed by Portuguese architects José Fernando Gonçalves and João Paulo Providência, it is a modern church of sober and minimalist lines, with a rectangular shaped floor and a considerable large height. The space has a large window that opens onto the inner cloister, the floor is slightly inclined towards the altar and its interior decoration is also very minimalistic, without figures or images.

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Manoel de Oliveira Room

The main hall of this cinema in Lisbon is called Manoel de Oliveira (after the famous Portuguese filmmaker). The cinema opened in 1950 and was remodeled several times, the last refurbishment took place in 2001. It is a hall with a seating capacity for 830 persons divided into 3 audience stalls.

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Church

The Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora has a sober and symmetrical façade in the Italian style, with a tower on each side and statues of Saints Vincent, Augustine and Sebastian above the entrance. The façade contains two turrets that rise on showy columns, open with windows and adorned with parapets. Two domes emerge from between them. A parapet of thirty-three meters, adorned with ornaments, joins the two turrets above the central body. The church has a longitudinal plan composed of a Latin cross, with a single nave with 6 interconnecting side chapels, an inscribed transept and a chancel with a rear choir. Inside the Church, a set of works ordered by King D. João V stands out:

• a baroque style canopy by Machado de Castro, supported by four powerful columns above the imposing altar, by Johann Friedrich Ludwig, flanked by eight life-size white painted wooden statues; on high plinths stand out the eight monumental images in the Italian style of the Mafra Ludoviciana School, two representing St. Vincent and St. Sebastian, made by Manuel Vieira, who is also responsible for the beautiful sculptures of angels, placed over the access doors to the canons’ choir;
• a historic organ built in 1765 by the organ maker João Fontanes de Maqueira, constituting one of the best and largest examples of Portuguese organ work from the 18th century;
• a transept, wide and with admirable architectural sense, limited around it by an order of six pilasters, identical to those of the nave. On it rested the large dome, which collapsed in the 1755 earthquake. Currently, a rotunda skylight, made of wood, torn by eight rectangular windows, somewhat disguises this absence.

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Cloister

The former Augustinian Monastery adjacent to the Church, accessed through its nave, preserves its 16th century cistern and traces of the old cloister. It also stands out for its 18th century tile panels: at the entrance, next to the first Cloister, scenes from D. Afonso Henriques’ attacks on Lisbon and Santarém by Manuel dos Santos are depicted. Around the two cloisters, tile panels with rural scenes, surrounded by floral designs and cherubs, illustrate La Fontaine’s fables.

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