Located at the Alcântara Maritime Station, a new interpretive center spans nine rooms and provides information on 14 murals by Almada Negreiros. These were originally created for the Alcântara Maritime Station (eight panels) and the nearby Rocha Conde de Óbidos Station (six panels). The center also serves as a museum space dedicated to the port activities of the 1940s.
The interpretive center offers insights into the construction and decoration of the Navigation Terminals, highlighting the relationship between architect Pardal Monteiro, who designed the buildings, and artist Almada Negreiros. It showcases the artist’s studies for the Maritime Stations and covers various political and historical moments affecting their operation, from World War II to transatlantic migration, war departures to the process of decolonization.
The commission of the murals to Almada and the controversy they sparked—given their deviation from the regime’s propaganda goals—are also detailed in the center.
The murals, hailed by art historians as exemplary expressions of Modernism, were created between 1943 and 1949. They represent the less affluent Lisbon that the Estado Novo dictatorship aimed to conceal.
Almada drew inspiration from the realities of the capital city, such as emigrant departures, fishing and shipbuilding activities along the river, popular daily life, circus performances, and the bustling activity of fish vendors and construction workers.
Exhibited too are other works by Almada Negreiros found in Lisbon and documentation related to the Maritime Stations, including testimonials, interviews, notes, photographs, reproductions, and documents.
The restoration of the panels, revealing their original colors, began in January of last year. This restoration is part of a larger project to recover the two maritime stations and establish the Interpretive Center, which will also include a restaurant.
The Interpretive Center for the Maritime Stations in Lisbon is a collaboration between the Lisbon City Council, the Lisbon Port Administration (APL), and the Lisbon Tourism Association (ATL), with total funding of 8.2 million euros.
The investment was distributed between ATL (3.5 million euros) and APL (four million euros), with an additional 700,000 euros from the World Monuments Fund to support the restoration of the murals.
The content coordination for the Interpretive Center was managed by Mariana Pinto dos Santos, an art historian, independent curator, and researcher at the Institute of Art History at the Nova Faculty of Social and Human Sciences (Nova FCSH).
The project involved collaboration from Almada Negreiros’s family, the Almada Negreiros Study and Documentation Center – Sarah Affonso (Nova FCSH), the Institute of Art History of Nova FCSH, the Hércules Laboratory of the University of Évora, the Regional Tourism Entity of Lisbon, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, RTP, the Lisbon Municipal Archive, and the National Museum of Ancient Art.
“It’s great to see that the port of Lisbon is no longer turned away from the city,” said Miguel Pinto Luz, the Minister of Infrastructure, last July during the public presentation of the Interpretive Center. “The port of Lisbon must have a symbiotic relationship with the city, and Lisboans must have access to this heritage.”
“Almada [Negreiros] must be represented to give all Lisboans access to what will become the new port of Lisbon,” the minister continued, “a port that is not only about containers or economic activity but is also oriented towards the Tagus River.”
