In a year of new challenges, Open House Lisbon reinvents itself. This weekend, the proposal is to walk around Lisbon in the company of sound walks narrated by different cultural personalities. An unprecedented program focused on outer space composed of eight routes that lead to discover the historic center as neighborhoods of Campo de Ourique, Estrela, Graça, Arroios, Avenidas Novas and Alvalade.
So instead of opening houses, the Open House opens this year to the street. Different sound paths were designedwhich can be downloaded in advance from the initiative's website or listened to at streaming. For those who want to follow each sound walk in a literal way, the starting point is indicated to live this sensory experience. To help, there is a map at the information points that are located at the beginning of each route, and in which a volunteer team will be available for clarification. The maps are also in digital format on the Lisbon Open House website.
These are also walks and mind journeys that can be taken from home, inside or outside Lisbon, in a garden or in any other context.
The tours
Between Vulnerability and Resilience - Gonçalo Byrne
- This is a walk between Alfama and Chiado that invites you to get to know the spatial diversity that witnesses different transformations of Lisbon throughout centuries of history.
- Start of the course: Miradouro das Portas do Sol (São Vicente Statue); Distance: 4.2 km; Duration of the audio file: 70 minutes.
Space, Chair, Path and Writing - Gonçalo M. Tavares
- On this tour, which has four itinerary options, you will be accompanied by several characters and passages that inhabit different books signed by the writer.
- Start of the course: Mexican Pastry; Distance: between 700m and 2.6 km depending on the route chosen; Duration of the audio file: 42 minutes.
The Lovers of the Kaleidoscope - Inês Meneses
- This course is not only a sound walk, it is also a sentimental map in which we explore spaces with which we are familiar.
- Start of the course: Alvalade subway station; Distance: 1.5 km; Duration of the audio file: 21 minutes.
Arroios, Around - Leonor Teles
- The route explores different natures, from Barão de Sabrosa to Morais Soares, and summons up movements, spirits, and aesthetics, passports necessary to travel between open fields and narrow streets, between stories of abandoned movie theaters and different architectural currents.
- Start of the course: Alameda Monumental Fountain (at the top); Distance: 3.9 km; Duration of the audio file: 60 minutes.
Wide Step - Lígia Soares
- In this journey, we walk through both the western part of Lisbon and the head of the playwright and choreographer. A walk with several geographic and temporal planes.
- Start of the course: Prazeres Cemetery (inside the cemetery, by the wall); Distance: 1.5 km; Duration of the audio file: 41 minutes.
New Avenues Renovated - Paula Moura Pinheiro
- A journey made of individual and collective memories for a reunion with the renewed Avenidas Novas where stores like stories have an address and give them soul.
- Start of the course: Snack-Bar Galeto; Distance: 1.6 km; Audio file length: 45 minutes.
The House of Questions and the Well of Memory - Rui Tavares
- A tour that takes us to April 4, 1571 in a journey that plunges not only into time, but also into history, letting us get to know Damião de Góis, a unique figure of the Renaissance.
- Start of the course: St. George's Castle; Distance: 2.9 km; Duration of the audio file: 71 minutes.
Bairro de Alvalade - Tomás Wallenstein
- A route that oscillates between elements of different regimes, renowned architects, and routes that history praises in order to show why Alvalade is the home of the musician and composer.
- Start of the course: São João de Brito Church; Distance: 3.2 km; Duration of the audio file: 63 minutes
In a perspective of inclusivity, the Open House also offers a tour with audio description, performed by Locus Acesso, adapted to blind or low vision people. The tour chosen was by Tomás Wallenstein, who proposes a discovery of Alvalade.
Launched in 2012 by the Lisbon Architecture Triennale, Open House Lisboa reaches its 9th edition this year, an initiative organized with EGEAC and that this year challenges you to independently and safely discover Lisbon by ear.
