BÉLEM CULTURAL CENTER

Description

Essentials about the Belém Cultural Center in brief

The Centro Cultural de Belém (Belém Cultural Center) is a cultural center opened in 1993 in the Belém district in the west of Lisbon. Mostly referred to as the CCB for short, the cultural center was initially intended only as a venue for the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council in 1992, but has since become the focal point of Lisbon’s cultural life. Today, the Belém Cultural Center houses an exhibition center with the Berardo Collection Museum modern art gallery, a conference center, a drama center, stores, cafés and a restaurant.

The location and architecture of the Belém Cultural Center

In 1988, the Portuguese government decided to build a headquarters for Portugal’s future EU Council presidency in 1992. The location chosen was the historic district of Belém, where the world-famous Belém Tower, the Presidential Palace (pt. “Palácio Nacional de Belém”) and the beautiful Jerónimos Monastery are already located.

The architectural competition was won by the design of the Italian Vittorio Gregotti and the Portuguese Manuel Salgado. Their design envisaged a large, bright complex of five individual buildings: A conference center (pt. “Centro de Reuniões”), a drama center (pt. “Centro de Espectáculos”), an exhibition center (pt. “Centro de Exposições”), a hotel building (pt. “Zona Hoteleira”) and a complementary building (pt. “Equipamento Complementar”). Construction began in 1988 and was completed in 1992. In the end, however, only three of the five building components planned by Gregotti and Salgado were actually realized; the hotel and the complementary building were abandoned.

The art and culture offers of the Belém Cultural Center

Today, the Belém Cultural Center covers an area of almost 100,000 square meters and houses the exhibition center with the modern art gallery Berardo Collection Museum, the conference center where large international conferences are held regularly, and the drama center with three halls of different sizes where opera and theater performances are held regularly. The offer is completed by stores, cafes and a restaurant. The CCB’s garden is also very beautiful, offering a great view of the Tagus River and the nearby Padrão dos Descobrimentos.