Cinema São Jorge & Teatro Tivoli: The Avenue of Premieres
Why is it significant?
Stand on the central promenade and look at the two buildings facing each other across the avenue. On the western side, the long, clean modernist front of the Cinema São Jorge; on the eastern side, the classical façade of the Teatro Tivoli, with its tall columns.
Key Facts
| Place | Cinema São Jorge & Teatro Tivoli: The Avenue of Premieres |
|---|---|
| Address | Avenida da Liberdade 175, 1250-141 Lisboa, Portugal |
| Geo Coordinates | 38.72070, -9.14650 |
| Part of Walk | Up the Avenida da Liberdade: Lisbon's Grand Boulevard from Restauradores to Parque Eduardo VII |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand on the central promenade and look at the two buildings facing each other across the avenue. On the western side, the long, clean modernist front of the Cinema São Jorge; on the eastern side, the classical façade of the Teatro Tivoli, with its tall columns.
The Tivoli came first, opening in 1924 to a design by the architect Raul Lino, who spent his career arguing that Portugal should build in its own way and not simply copy Paris. It showed silent films with live music, operettas and revues, and gave an avenue that longed to be modern a place to dress up for. The São Jorge followed in 1950, with around eighteen hundred seats in its main hall, for a time one of the largest cinemas in the country.
Going to the pictures under the Estado Novo was never entirely innocent. Every film went through the censors first. Kisses were trimmed, political lines were cut, whole films were banned, and audiences learned to read between the frames. After 25 April 1974, films that had been forbidden for years arrived on this avenue almost all at once, and people queued round the block to see what they had been missing.
In its golden age, a night out here meant a premiere, a late supper and a walk home under the plane trees, dressed to the nines. Today the São Jorge belongs to the city and is home to film festivals such as DocLisboa and IndieLisboa, while the Tivoli still stages concerts and shows. Somewhere in between, Lisbon learned to love cinema in the dark, together.
Look at how the avenue widens your sense of the city here: from Restauradores it is all slow ceremony, but up here it becomes an address for banks, hotels and luxury shops. The money moved north along this line, and so did the city. Stay on the western side, and turn left into Rua Rosa Araújo, a quieter street climbing gently away from the traffic. A short way up, a grand family house holds one of Lisbon's most surprising private collections.