We Take A Walk Through The Urban Art Of Lisbon

The Portuguese capital is one of the most surprising cities in Europe for its history, its atmosphere, its historic neighborhoods, its cafes and gastronomy or its nightlife. It is also so for many other things, such as its museums, its trams or its splendid past. And now we are surprised by the urban art of Lisbon as we tour its historic center and its neighborhoods. Do you want to know it?

Lisbon, at the forefront of world urban art

It has been in recent years when the Portuguese capital has begun to transform thanks to the many murals that have emerged in its streets. So much so, that Lisbon is considered among the cities in the world with the most and best examples of urban art.

It is an aspect that is something more than remarkable today, when this type of art enjoys great prestige and is even listed, thanks to famous names such as Basquiat or Bansky, who have worked and do work on this type of creations.

Lisbon street art: an open-air gallery

This proliferation of murals, graffiti and street paintings has allowed Lisbon to compete with different places on the planet for the quality of its urban art. When talking about this art, names like Los Angeles, Berlin or Singapore always come up. Well, now we must include the Portuguese capital.

Curiously, while urban art was originally something marginal and even criminal, in the case of Lisbon the great emergence of this type of creations was sponsored by the institutions. Specifically, by the City Council, which promoted the Gallery of Urban Art or GAU.

Before that, Lisbon’s street artists were closer to vandalism than anything else. In fact, in places like the Bairro Alto and other must-see sites in Lisbon, graffiti and graffiti were seen marring the city’s heritage. So the GAU tried to eradicate that, but helping to better choose the places for these muralists and graffiti artists to develop their art.

And it is not only necessary to mention painters. There are also artists who work with a wide variety of materials, even garbage. Thus, there is also a kind of recycling and even denouncing the problems of a big city or the pollution that threatens today’s society.

Lisbon urban art highlights

In general, strolling through the historical areas of Lisbon and even traveling on its famous and charming trams, it is not difficult to see interesting street murals. But we are going to indicate some of the places where the most attractive are :

1. Amoreiras neighborhood

In the Amoreiras neighborhood is the so-called Hall of Fame. It is, in a way, the epicenter of street art in Lisbon, since it was the first place that was put in the hands of these artists. And it is right in the center, from the Marqués de Pombal square to the center of Amoreiras

2. Literary Walk of Graça

Get on tram line 28 and head to São Jorge Castle. Before arriving, some fantastic murals await you that evoke different writers who have lived in this area of ​​the city. So two arts go hand in hand: painting and literature.

3. Avenue Fontes Pereiro do Melo

Another area where murals abound, and in addition to dimensions, are the facades of this avenue Fontes Pereiro do Melo. In it, unfortunately, there are many empty buildings. Without a doubt, it is a gigantic canvas for the most demanding sprays in the city.

4. Next to the city elevators

One of the attractions of Lisbon is to go up in the different historical elevators that save the great slopes of the local urbanism. Our recommendation is to go up in the Gloria and Lavra elevators and, incidentally, see the recently painted walls.

There is much more urban art scattered throughout Lisbon, but the magic of street art is, precisely, to surprise us, to find it in the most unexpected places. So encourage you to walk around Lisbon and discover it for yourself.

Although, if you prefer to go with the security of seeing the best, it is even possible to hire thematic routes through Lisbon, a city that boasts some of the most impressive murals in Europe and the world.