Centro Cultural de Belém

Entertainment & Arts

Europe, Portugal, Lisboa

The Belém Cultural Centre (its title translated into English) (CCB - Centro Cultural de Belém), located in the Belém quarter of Lisbon, is the largest building with cultural facilities in Portugal. CCB includes very complex areas such as an auditorium for opera, ballet, symphony concerts and congresses, high security meeting halls, and a 7,000 m² exhibition area. Also located in CCB is the Jacques Delors European Information Centre. The Belém Cultural Centre has 140,000 m² of construction area and was prepared in a very short period (1989-1992). The client of the project was the Portuguese State through the Secretaria de Estado da Cultura (State Agency for Culture). Completed in 1992, it occupies a total of 100,000 m² and is the work of architects Vittorio Gregotti and Manuel Salgado; the interior was planned by Daciano Costa. The Belém Cultural Centre won the International Stone Architecture Award at the Verona Fair in 1993. It has already hosted important events like the summit meeting of the Heads of State of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).