Casa das Artes

Yesterday, as a new member of the community from Australia, I was delighted and honoured to be invited by the municipality officials to visit the “House of Arts” (Casa das Artes/ Biblioteca Municipal Tomaz de Figueiredo), (Biblioteca) to take photos and write a little about my experience there and as a new member of the community. Apparently, my photos and thoughts about my new town have been well received by some…and Mr Bear has made friends all over town and for that I am thankful and humbled. I have admired the outside of the House of Arts since arriving in town and Mr Bear and I see it daily. Because of the curse of Covid, I had not been inside so this was a wonderful opportunity and a guided tour. The beautiful historic building is 18th century and now classified as a Public Interest Building. It is surrounded by breathtaking park gardens and historic churches and overlooks the pristine Rio Vez and the town. It has been owned and occupied by prominent people, governments and public entities and was even occupied for a short time by Napoleon. The Biblioteca was opened in 2001 and so celebrates 20 years of operation in 2021, which is only hours away. The building is quite breathtaking with impressive skylights, incredible and very impressive, original historic ceiling paintings, and stucco. Peaceful and beautiful study and reading areas abound and there is a very well-equipped audio-visual centre and areas with stunning views over the Rio Vez, through columns and balconies. I was delighted to see extensive areas with books in English, Spanish, French and Castellan. There are also many books and art pieces from local people and prominent Portuguese artists, writers and poets. Many classic novels have been translated from their original languages into Portuguese. I was truly fortunate to be shown the old home kitchen area where the team at the Biblioteca are sorting through many fine specimens of minerals and fossils which will ultimately be housed in the new Father Himalaya activity centre and planetarium, which is virtually next door to my home. What impressed me very much was the large, comfortable, warm and well-equipped children’s activity centre. The small number of children there, were incredibly happy and energetic and busily doing arts and crafts and having great fun socialising, under the attentive eyes of the experienced staff, who really loved devoting their time to the lovely little people in their care. I was quite honoured to be introduced to the children and they were all very attentive and sweet. There is a very well-trained team to work with and look after the children and I am told that they can work with many more children, so hopefully, if you are reading this and have children who love socialising with other kids and doing fun activities, it might be in your interest to visit with your children and check it out, especially during holiday periods. It would be great to see more community involvement in this beautiful, historic building, the library itself, children’s activity centre and the artistic, educational and learning opportunities presented for our community here in the historic centre of our town. I hope my photos do the Biblioteca justice. I took my dog, Mr Bear back later in the afternoon as he wanted to see where dad went to earlier. Thank you Catarina for the invite and tour🙏🏼 Feliz Ano Novo to all.

Beautiful cultural space. Great place to see concerts.

The best

Bar moderno e um staff 5 estrelas. Tem umas cervejas top

Local aprazível incluído numa cidade bonita, moderna e acolhedora.