Lisbon Graffiti: Calçada da Glória

When you visit Lisbon, you must ride the typical funicular, “Elevador da Glória”. My suggestion, if you are a street art lover, is to go up in the funicular (Lisbon streets are very steep!) and come down walking to enjoy the art.

There are legal graffiti in a street art gallery in the touristic “Calçada da Glória”, promoted by the City Council. Lisbon City Council has been very supportive about this kind of art in the last years, through the street art project, GAU - Galeria de Arte Urbana that started here and spread to other places in the city.

I really enjoy coming to this place from time to time, armed with my cameras to check out the new works. There are seven panels at the top of “Calçada da Glória” that are renewed each year.

Immediately after, there is the “Largo da Oliveirinha”, also a free zone. You can find relaxed people painting there in the middle of the afternoon.

All the way down you can find many works and the street is basically covered in ink. It’s a strange but nice combination of the old, sometimes abandoned city architecture with the vivid colors of the sprays.

There are still many people against this kind of art in the city and although the City Council has supported street art projects in many areas, it has also increased its fight against illegal graffiti in the city.

I have to agree I don’t like seeing the monuments and the “azulejos” all tagged either, but I’ve always loved to see graffiti and street art coloring my city. I think if people are going to leave the buildings unattended in the city center, at least let other people make something pretty out of it! :)

written by saidseni on 2012-11-19 #places #art #street #graffiti #street-art #paint #location #city #ink #urban-adventures #art-and-culture