Promised and anticipated already in the Chamber's social networks, it is finally open to the public the Alcântara Librarythe newest member of Lisbon's municipal library network. It is the third largest in the city. Located in Palace of the Counts of Burnay - dated from the XIX century - the full rehabilitation of the Alcântara Library was in charge of the City Hall, with architectural project by Margarida Grácio Nuneswhich received an honorable mention for Best Social Impact Intervention from the National Urban Rehabilitation Award 2020.
The new space, "in the service of citizenship, democracy and freedom" - said Fernando Medina, Mayor of Lisbon - "will allow closer ties"in the working class and popular district of Alcântara. A neighborhood that was, precisely, one of Lisbon's republican centers, where early on people conspired against the monarchy, planning ways to establish a republic in Portugal, which would come to pass on October 5, 1910.
Also during the Salazar dictatorship, Alcântara was home to several revolutionary groups that were repressed by the regime. One of these episodes would go down in history, immortalized in the street where the new library is located today: in 1961, on the street where the current library is located, the sculptor and anti-fascist activist José Dias Coelho was murdered by the PIDE. Later, the street would change its name.
With a total of five floors, the last of which has a view of Alcântara and the Tagus River, the new library has a store, a multipurpose room, a space for families, a garden, an art gallery, and a cafeteria with a terrace and esplanade.
The Alcântara Library is open Monday through Friday between 10 am and 5 pm, with a lunch break between 12:30 pm and 2 pm. On the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month it is open the same hours. It is located at numbers 27-29 on Rua José Dias Coelho. More information can be obtained through the e-mail [email protected] or phone +351 218 173 730.
