Barata Salgueiro

This 19th-century building with its preserved post-Pombal-era facade and period ornamentation stands on the border between the cosmopolitanism of Avenida da Liberdade and the authenticity of a traditional Lisbon bairro.

The restoration project, which took the historical and urban context into account, as well as the original identity, is a doorway between the past, present and future. It evokes the visionary spirit of the Marquis of Pombal who, inspired by the boulevardsof Europe’s great cities, ordered the building of the Passeio Público.

Just like the 19th century, when walking down the avenue was a social event for families, artists and foreign visitors, strolling towards Baixa and the river is still a genuinely Lisbon experience, combining centuries of history and the lifestyle of a European capital open to the world.

It is this spirit of the promenade, of the notion of losing and finding oneself in the city, that the artist Vasco Mourão has revived, like a flâneur sauntering across the Portuguese cobbles under the shade of the trees, past kiosks, pavement cafés, neoclassical theatres and Art Nouveau buildings.

Based on these wanderings, using a marker and seven concave pieces of brass, the artist has created the existing city and an imagined version of it, reproducing trajectories and facades that change depending on the angle from which the panel is viewed.

The three-dimensional artwork, a jewel on which the city’s face has been drawn, can be seen in the building’s lobby, which brings the spirit of the age of the bairro and the capital into the interior of 21 Barata Salgueiro.

Architect: Manuel Aires Mateus
Artist: Vasco Mourão

Barata Salgueiro consists of a total project area of 4,540m2 divided between offices, two shops and car parking.