Exhibitions

General Notes

1. Restricted opening hours are denoted by:-
*   denotes closed on Mondays
**  denotes closed Mondays and Public Holidays.

2. Many facilities give a discount for over 65's.  Just ask, "Disconto para idade, faz favor?"

Craft Shows - “Armazém” & “Mercado dos Escravos”

These two historic buildings are located in the large square devoted to Henry the Navigator and featuring a series of fountains.

The “Armazém”, the Regimental Warehouse, is the single storey building with the ornate yellow decoration above the door.

The “Mercado dos Escravos”, the Slave Market, was exactly that – the first in Europe to be purpose built for the sale of African slaves.

Exhibitions and sales of the work of local artists and craftsmen are frequently held in both of these locations.  These vary throughout the year - and you can find some very talented work by artists, leather-workers, jewellers, photographers, potters and sculptors.

Entry is free to these exhibitions.

Sand Sculptures - “FIESA” - at Pera, 20 km. east of Lagos

A car is needed for the trip to Junction 8 on the A22 motorway, from where the site is signposted.

The site is normally open from May to October, every day from 10:00 to 22:00. The sculptures are flood-lit at night, with really dramatic effect.

The exhibition covers a huge area – over 15,000 square metres. Some 30,000 tonnes of sand is sculpted by world-famous sand artists. Each year a different theme is chosen – “Hollywood” and “Mythologies” were recent ones.

Entry is c. €10 but discount vouchers are often available around the town.

* Science Live - “Centro Ciência Viva”

This exhibition is located in the red building above the Mercado Municipal on the Avenida dos Descobrimentos.

It is well worth a visit - especially when the grand-children come to visit and it rains - (yes, it can rain, even in Lagos.)  Granddads will love it too.

There are lots of "hands-on" exhibits - including Morse code and semaphore - and the engine control model is great fun!   There is a pond with model boats  to play with, too.

Additional exhibitions are held throughout the year, often with some seasonal theme.

There is a small entry charge.

Cultural Centre & Theatre - “Centro Cultural de Lagos” (CCL)

Located in a side street behind Henry the Navigator Square, this is a modern and well-used complex. There is an open courtyard inside, with a small café where Wi-Fi is available free. Note that the “CCL” is closed on Sundays.

There are four salons which have frequent exhibitions of painting and sculpture, often with audio-visual presentations to complement them.

There is also an excellent, comfortable theatre (c. 200 seats), which hosts a range of events including classical and jazz concerts; plays and operas; demonstrations of traditional and national music; song and dance shows.

The local practice is for most theatre performances to start at 2130 - a bit late for me!

Exhibitions are usually free to enter, but for the theatre, there will be a charge of from €5 to €10, depending on the artists.

Cinemas - "Cultural" and "Commercial"

"Cultural"  There is a small cinema within the local library (Biblioteca Julio Dantas), which shows a range of films each Wednesday.  These can be normal commercial films - but are more often "seasons" over 3 or 4 weeks, featuring a particular theme, or artist or director.  The library is is up a side street, just past the entrance to the Hospital.

"Commercial"  A modern commercial cinema can be found in the town centre, in Rua Candido dos Reis.  It has four rooms and shows all the latest films.  Some of these may be dubbed into Portuguese, but more often they are in the original English with Portuguese sub-titles.  The programmes can be found on their web site, listed on our "Contacts" page.