Living culture

We could call them “centres of creativity” because of the important role they play in the cultural life of residents and visitors to the Algarve.

The Centro Cultural São Lourenço (São Lourenço Cultural Centre) is a symbol of Algarvian culture, which is internationally recognised.  Founded in 1981 by Marie and Volker Huber in a picturesque hamlet of traditional houses, Nobel Prize winner, Günther Grass is one of its resident artists.

Its regular programme of activities includes exhibitions by highly respected contemporary plastic arts creators and concerts of classical music, jazz and fado performed by internationally renowned musicians.

The Centro Cultural de Lagos (Lagos Cultural Centre) is a culture factory where scenic arts, concerts, and dance all come together with exhibitions and talks in various rooms, or in the centre’s auditorium.

In Vila Real de Santo António, the Centro Cultural António Aleixo (the Antonio Aleixo Cultural Centre), housed in the old municipal market that has been renovated to a high standard, offers a contemporary vision of culture where all the arts are displayed in a programme of permanent events.

The Palacio da Galeria in Tavira, after being renovated, has become the city’s dynamic cultural hub in a building which houses two auditoriums, exhibition rooms, the Municipal Museum and a cultural centre.

Another key centre, the Centro Cultural de Vila do Bispo (the Vila do Bispo Cultural Centre), in the extreme west of the Algarve, has a library, exhibition room, a multimedia room, a bar and an auditorium.