Arts, Culture and Heritage

Camilo Castelo Branco inspires network of 11 tourist cities

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 00:00

The works of Camilo Castelo Branco will lead to a cultural and tourist route that will link 11 national cities. Coimbra, Fafe, Póvoa de Lanhoso, Povoa de Varzim, Ribeira de Pena, Viana do Castelo, Vila do Conde, Vila Nova de Gaia, Vila Real, Viseu and Vila Nova de Famalicão will promote joint tourism activities around the figure of the writer.

The announcement was made yesterday by the chairman of the Regional Tourism Organization of Porto, Northern Portugal, Melchior Moreira, during the First Meeting of Lands Camillians held in Famalicão. "It will be a tourist to the country and the world," stressed the official, for whom "Camilo holds a vast and rich cultural heritage that should be promoted and disseminated."

The 11 cities, which in 2004 had formed the joint Camillians Lands, will now create a sightseeing tour that will raise awareness of the most striking areas of the life of the writer, the chain of the Porto's house Seide, and pass by some of his most memorable premises. This network of cities under the sign of Camilo Castelo Branco will also promote joint cultural events to publicize the impact of copyright in each city.

Lagos: Old jail cells to open "Globalfornication" and "In Jail"

Saturday, 07 August 2010 00:00

The cells of a former prison in Lagos in the Algarve, opened today for the presentation of performance "Globalfornication" by Portuguese artists, and the choreography "In Jail", where the Brazilian Thiane Labrador will dance from the bars of the jail. In The Jail is a work of dance theater and that is the result of a residence of six weeks at the Laboratory for Creative Activities (LAC). "In Jail" starts in cell number 5 with the artist perched on the railings of a small window of the former prison in Lagos - where now, ironically, the artists express their creative freedom. The search for "In Jail" started from the idea as "marketing is incisive" and how people today can buy everything, whether silicone body, car, husband, makeup, clothes. Based in marketing, magazines, color pink, glamorous brands or formulas of happiness and standardized, the artist did a survey of movements within the limited space of the cell and built a choreography that shows  the world of standardized culture masses.  Also in the LAC, , but in another cell of the former prison in Lagos, Andrea Innocent, 33, and Ana Maria, 50, will reveal "Globalfornication," a performance with several video installations where the two artists reveal the result of one month artist residency in the city of Lagos. Andrea Innocent, dressed in sumptuous black lace pinned to the head in a hat and shoes very high, and Anna Mary, the immaculate white dress holding a watering can green lettuce to serve as a "pochette" are  awakened by the most varied curiosities where they developed their art project. The duo of "Globalfornication" communicates through clothing, so people who saw the performance on the street, they might interpret and reflect individually on what it would mean that event in Lagos.

"Traveling. Travelers and Tourists to Portugal at the time of discovery of the First Republic"

Thursday, 05 August 2010 17:48

The year 1911 represents a key moment in the emergence of organized tourism in Portugal. That year, California hosted the IV International Congress on Tourism leading to the first Bureau of Tourism and the Tourism Council.

The promotion of tourism done in this period emphasizing the educational mission and physical well-being of this travel, as we can see  in the guidebooks, brochures and posters that first promoted Portugal . Traveling for pleasure  to see new  places and people had become more desirable to more people.

This exhibition is a double invitation to travel: and to travel in time and space. Reliving "the vacation of the first tourists, the history of fashion, clothes and articles that are put in the suitcase, sports that were practiced, the tours that are consulted ­ all presented by the National Commission for the Commemoration Centennial of the Republic and Turismo de Portugal.

The exhibition, which runs  to October 6 in the east tower of Lisbon¹s Terreiro do Paço, is organized into five sections:

1. Turistas - The pleasure and the art of travel,

2. The Republic and Tourism

3. Tourism and national identity: a new image for Portugal

4. The tourist places and projects of the Republic,

5. Vacations in Portugal.

Óbidos Opera Festival

Thursday, 05 August 2010 00:00

Over various evenings, the Óbidos Opera Festival presents emblematic works by leading world composers in open-air stages. The stages include historical buildings such as the Castle or exquisite natural settings such as the Óbidos Lagoon. Festival runs from July 22 to the August 29, 2010.