Belém Cultural Centre
Vast stone-clad arts complex in Belém with concert halls, courtyards and a contemporary art museum.
The Centro Cultural de Belém was built for Portugal's 1992 presidency of the European Union and opened that January. Vittorio Gregotti and Manuel Salgado won the competition with a design conceived as a small city: interconnected blocks of lioz limestone arranged around streets, courtyards and terraces that step down towards the river. Daciano da Costa handled the interiors. With more than 140,000 square metres it is the largest cultural building in the country, and its roof gardens look across to the Jerónimos monastery.
The complex is organised in three modules: a congress and conference centre, a performing arts centre and an exhibition centre. The Grand Auditorium seats around 1,429 and the Small Auditorium 348, hosting orchestral concerts, opera, ballet, theatre and film. Since October 2023 the exhibition wing has housed the MAC/CCB, the Museum of Contemporary Art, which succeeded the Berardo Collection Museum, and an architecture centre. Guided tours explain the building's construction, materials and gardens.
Highlights
- Grand Auditorium seating about 1,429 for opera and concerts
- MAC/CCB contemporary art museum in the exhibition wing
- Lioz limestone courtyards, ramps and roof gardens
- Guided tours across all three modules of the complex
