Situated in one of the most noble areas in cosmopolitan Lisboa, the Belém quarter, in front of the majestic Jerónimos Monastery, the Belém Cultural Centre is an architectonic equipment dedicated to the promotion of arts, functioning as well as a meetings and conferences centre.

The construction was initiated in 1988 and finished in 1993, aiming to fulfil the need of a space to receive the Presidency of the European Union and that, at the same time, would gather the crescent range of cultural activities of the Capital and of the Country.

The project was attributed to the Architects Vittorio Gregotti (Italy) and Manuel Salgado (Portugal), congregating a Meetings and Conference Centre, a Performing Arts Centre, an Exhibition Centre, an Hotel Zone and Complementary Equipment. It occupies nowadays a construction area of 97 thousand square meters, distributed in six hectares separated by two inner streets and united by a pedestrian sideway that creates an unity with the lovely Império Square.

Its location was quite polemic, right in front of one of the most prominent monuments in Lisboa, yet it aims to proudly mark the leaving point of the important Portuguese Maritime Discoveries back in the 15th century, that gave “new worlds to the world”, opening the doors to new cultures and lifestyles.

The Belém Cultural Centre is endowed with technical departments, auditoriums, shops, restaurants, exhibition galleries, gardens, pedagogic activities, museums, among many other amenities serving the arts, in one of the most beautiful and historic places in Lisboa, side by side with the legendary Tejo river.