Everything related to Portuguese instruments can be found at the Museum of Portuguese Music – Casa Verdades Faria, which also has a garden worth visiting.
Theatre, cinema, music and dance. They will all find their place in the Cruzeiro Building, built in Estoril in 1951 to house the country’s first shopping centre. Then in 2016, after it had been lying abandoned for decades, Cascais Municipal Council (CMC) acquired it with the intention of transforming it into one of the most important cultural hubs in the area. Following in the footsteps of the Museum Quarter, which is dedicated to the plastic arts, the Arts Village will be a place for the performing arts, providing a home for a number of the area’s cultural institutions.
The construction was completed in January and includes a 400-seat auditorium, a library specialising in cinematography and facilities dedicated to the Cascais Professional Theatre School, which is owned by CMC and the Cascais Experimental Theatre (TEC), which is located in the nearby Mirita Casimiro Municipal Theatre. The building is also close to the Cascais Music Conservatory, the Dance School, the Museum of Portuguese Music and Estoril Casino – which together form the Arts Village.
The intervention, which represented an investment of €8 million, first involves preserving the façade of this iconic building that was designed by architect Filipe Nobre de Figueiredo. Everything else was demolished to make way for a structure designed by architect Miguel Arruda.
Located between Rua do Viveiro and Avenida das Acácias, this building was originally home to the Cruzeiro Shopping Centre, and, according to the CMC, was initially frequented by “European monarchs and wealthy people who stayed in Portugal during the post-war period.” It gradually declined over the years until only a popular pizzeria that opened in the 1980s remained. The council purchased the building for €121,000 in 2016.
According to the new project’s description, which was shared by Miguel Arruda’s studio, “the unifying element of the new building’s programme will be the ‘Praça’ (square), which will allows the transition of the proposal’s many realities through the decompression effect.” In a previously restricted area, “a public enjoyment area” will be created, allowing for “genuine urban redevelopment associated with a strong social and cultural component, thus seeking to contribute, from an urbanistic point of view, to an intentional relationship between public and private space.”