LISBON CÂMARA is to spend five million euros restoring a 1930s pavilion in the centre of the city’s Eduardo VII Park.
The majority of the restoration funds for the mock baroque classical columned building known as the Carlos Lopes Pavilion will come from Lisbon Casino levied taxes.
A collection of Fascist era statues and a fountain pond depicting the Salazar ideal of feminine wholesomeness and beauty are also to be restored.
The entire park has been surrounded by Câmara aluminium barrier fences, cordoning off areas of restoration.
The municipal authority says that its objective is to “promote the interaction between sport and leisure activities” on the site, which, in recent years, has become rundown and dangerous, particularly at night, because of drug-addict related assaults and robberies.
In October, Câmara planning officers gave the green light to plans to restore the pavilion which has been closed since 2003.
The pavilion is famous for a series of blue tiles, or azulejos, by Jorge Colaço depicting the Battle of Aljubarrota, known as the Ala dos Namorados, which have been vandalised in recent years with some of the tiles having been stolen.
Park Eduardo VII was laid out in the first decade of the 20th century and named after England’s King Edward VII who made an official state visit to the capital in 1903.
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