The testament to his success is that, today, he is at the center of a cultural rebirth that’s transforming Lisbon from a backwater into one of Europe’s most vibrant capitals. Aging roads have been overhauled, magnificent squares are being restored and a whole stretch of the riverfront, once home to an abattoir and a petrochemical plant, is morphing into a vibrant, imaginatively designed suburb. Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s magnificent, glass-and-steel train station has revitalized a decaying industrial neighborhood; the sleek Vasco da Gama Bridge, spanning the Tagus River, firmly links Lisboans with the rest of Europe.
All this has taken money–lots of it. Portugal’s socialist government, backed by wads of European Union development aid, has spent heavily over recent years to transform Lisbon into an international cultural and civic showcase. But the question is: are those good times about to end, or at least lose a bit of their sparkle? Three months ago Portugal’s socialist Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was ousted for mismanaging the economy and running up massive debts. Last week a new center-right government was elected, promising to rein in spending. Adding insult to injury, the EU a few days later warned Portugal that it was running up against the deficit ceilings allowed by Brussels–effectively mandating further belt-tightening.
It’s hard to speculate about what economically stingier times might mean for Lisbon. But if they put a cap on its bubbling cultural scene, that would be a shame. With its face to the Atlantic and its back to the rest of Europe, Lisbon hasn’t been the center of anything since its 16th-century kings ruled a global empire and its explorers found new lands to trade with and conquer. Portugal’s development during the 20th century was stunted by the 44-year dictatorship of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, whose brutal regime cut off the country from the rest of Europe. Today a new generation of young, innovative Portuguese know they cannot afford to isolate themselves.
Those who will graduate from high school this spring are a new breed–the first to have been born as EU members. And their only slightly older siblings, or perhaps young parents, are just beginning to make their mark as the first Portuguese to have received a complete, compulsory education. (Just four years of schooling were required until the fall of Portugal’s dictatorship in 1974.) Never before has the country had such a sizable, sophisticated, utterly Europeanized group of young people. And they’re the ones who are gobbling up Lisbon’s cultural offerings–and driving appetites for more.
What a change their half a decade has made. Before 1996 Lisbon’s cultural life was hit or miss, with theater lights out, for instance, as often as they were on. Now Portugal’s two national theaters and its opera house both run full seasons. Not only are young people fueling a demand for the arts, they’re also transforming them. Lisbon’s shops, bars and discos are being made over by a trendy group of young graphic and interior designers, like Ricardo Mealha, who created the funky, ’70s-influenced decor of the bar Lux, one of the city’s hippest hangouts. “Some of the most innovative and interesting work right now is being done in Portugal,” says IKEA design manager Lars Engman, who crisscrosses the globe in search of new styles for the ubiquitous retailer.
Lisboans are also leaving their mark on dance and fashion. Choreographer Vera Montero is making the rounds of major European festivals this spring and summer with her vivid, tumultuous performances. Like other stars in their 20s and 30s, Montero draws on international sources of inspiration. “The paradigm of the new dance movement in Portugal is clearly a European one,” says Culture Minister Augusto Santos Silva. “The new choreographers have a multicultural approach.” Fatima Lopes is making a splash on international catwalks with glowing colors and head-turning designs–especially a teeny bikini made from 60 diamonds and some gold wire, part of her 2002 spring-summer collection.
It remains to be seen how a changing politics and economy will affect all this. With luck, the new Social Democrat leader Jose Durao Barroso, whose party won the recent elections, will target civil servants, not sculptors, for cuts. Moreover, EU subsidies earmarked specifically for culture are set to grow from ¤100 million between 1994 and 1999 to ¤330 million between 2000 and 2006. So no one imagines, for instance, that the 10 new football stadiums, planned when Lisbon won the right to host the European championships in 2004, won’t be built. A new airport, making the city even more accessible, will also most likely go ahead, though perhaps more slowly. When it comes to the future, at least for now, Lisbon’s hip new generation is partying, not worrying.
