Parque das Nações

In 1998 Lisbon hosted the last World Exposition of the century, EXPO’98. It covered a total of 72,500 m2 where it received the 160 participants (146 countries and 14 international organizations). Their flags are still hoisted (on the right). On the left there’s the Pavilhão Atlântico. The Parque das Nações project covers 340 ha, including 5 Km riverside and the Olivais Dock, a 1940’s airport for hydroplanes.


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Rossio

The Rossio Square is located in the Pombaline Downtown of Lisbon. During the 13th century the population expanded from the Castle and Rossio, which means something like "field without owner" in old Portuguese, became an important spot.

In the 19th century a column with the statue of King Pedro IV was erected and it was officially named Dom Pedro IV Square. At that time it received a new pavement in Portuguese mosaic (Calçada Portuguesa) and two bronze fountains imported from France.

The Santa Justa Lift, in the middle, and Carmo Covent, on the right, are also visible.


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Borboletarium

Tomorrow the Europe's first Borboletarium (does this word exists?) will be inaugurated in Lisbon at the Botanic Garden. It will be permanently open to the public next Monday from 10h to 17h. There we can closely watch the several phases of the butterfly's life cycle, from the egg to the tiny caterpillars (larvae), later chrysalis and finally adult butterfly.
These Monarch butterflies (or Danaus plexippus) pictures were taken last September when the Borboletarium opened to the public for a day.

Lisbon center of Instituto Cervantes

The Lisbon center of Instituto Cervantes organized a Symposium on the Spanish Civil War: crossing borders 70 years later. The exhibition "Correspondents on the Spanish Civil War" reflects, along the selected 30 chronicles, the evolution of the war from the point of view of the several authors.
The left panel shows excerpts of Hemingway's chronicles for "The New Republic" on the Teruel front. The right is about the Portuguese-American John dos Passos (for Esquire) and Martha Gellhorn (for Colliers) in Madrid at the Florida Hotel.Other names included in the exhibition are the Portuguese journalists Mário Neves, Félix Correia and Artur Portela, the French Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the US journalist Jay Allen.


Note: Unfortunately I wasn't able to visit exhibition earlier. It'll end next Friday (November 10th).

Church of the Carmo Covent

The church of the Carmo Covent was built in 1389 by Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira (Santo Condestável). On the 1st November 1755 a huge earthquake caused the collapse of most of the vault and the fire that followed it destroyed most of what remained.
A reconstruction attempt was abandoned in the 19th century "under the influence of the romantic taste for ruins".
The exhibited collection consists, mainly, of abandoned pieces of sculpture collected from monasteries vandalized during the French invasions (Peninsular War) and Liberal War.