South Africa. The museum covers the greats of 20th-century art including Jackson Pollack, Roy Liechtenstein, and Giorgio de Chirico, along with cutting-edge artists of today. See p. 110.
Portugal’s best Churches & Abbeys
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Portugal in Context
“Where the land ends and the sea begins” was how the great poet Luís Vaz de Camões defined his homeland in the 16th century. Portugal has always been shaped by the ocean. For centuries it turned its back on its often prickly Spanish neighbors and the rest of Europe. Instead, it reached out to continents beyond the Atlantic, gaining riches though maritime trade and forging Europe’s first and longest-lasting colonial empire.
In Camões’ day, Portuguese seafarers like Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan pushed back the boundaries of the known world, discovering routes to Africa, Asia, and America, laying the foundations for a global empire. Today’s Portugal carries the legacy of that Age of Exploration, from the Brazilian gold that lines its churches to the diversity of the population, and the exotic touches that spice Portuguese cuisine.
The sea also provided an escape route. In hard times, millions of emigrants sailed for a better life, founding communities that today flourish as outposts of Portuguese culture, from Massachusetts to Macau, Paris to São Paulo.
Maritime expansion had a dark side. Portugal initiated the trans-Atlantic slave trade that lasted hundreds of years. Up to the 1970s, the dictatorship in Lisbon fought to cling to its overseas colonies. The wars left Portugal cut off from the European mainstream, economically backward, and culturally isolated. Since a peaceful 1974 revolution restored democracy, the country has taken huge strides toward modernity. Portugal joined the European Union in 1986 and adopted the euro as its currency in 1999. Today, Lisbon is fast developing as a tech hub. Tourism is booming, thanks to Portugal’s reputation as a safe, easy-on-the-wallet destination, plus the timeless advantages of living on Europe’s southwestern seaboard—from the endless sun-kissed beaches to superlative seafood and cities brimming with heritage.
Portugal Today
For much of the past 100 years, Portugal has been out of step with the European mainstream. While World War II raged, it was peacefully neutral; while post-WWII democracies embraced unity, it labored under a “proudly alone” dictatorship; while other colonial powers dismantled their empires, it waged doomed wars against African independence movements up to 1975. Now, as much of Europe is racked by political turmoil, angry demonstrations grip the streets, and voters turn to insurgent parties, this nation of 10 million is a haven of contentment and stability.
The radical right has failed to make a mark in repeated elections; the radical left, which has been a fixture for decades, seems unable to emulate the breakthroughs of comrades in Spain and Greece. From 2015 to 2019 they supported a center-left government that has given the country a balanced budget for the first time in years and ensured Portugal remains among the most enthusiastic members of NATO and the European Union. In a system where most power lies with the prime minister, but the president can impose significant checks on government policy, politicians holding both posts have managed to cooperate amiably and maintain high levels of popularity, despite coming from rival political parties: one socialist, the other conservative.
The economy helps maintain this rosy scenario. Portugal was hard hit by international economic crisis in 2009. The shock cut short the progress Portugal had been making since the 1980s when it emerged from decades of dictatorship and years of post-revolutionary turmoil. From 2009 to 2013 the economy shrank by 8%. Unemployment hit record levels. Since 2015, however, the economy has bounced back. Talented youngsters who emigrated during the lean years have been tempted home, bringing new skills and experiences that are helping renew Lisbon’s creative buzz.
Textiles, shoemaking, agriculture, and other traditional mainstays are winning markets with a new focus on high-quality production. Tourism has boomed, thanks in part to security fears in rival Mediterranean destinations. Tourism revenues doubled between 2012 and 2018 to total 16 billion€.
Lisbon and Porto have thriving tech scenes, boosted by the annual Web Summit, the world’s biggest geek gathering which moved from Dublin to the banks of the Tagus in 2015, bringing in 11,000 CEOs. Porto-based online fashion retailer Farfetch became the country’s first unicorn startup, valued at $5.8 billion at its 2018 flotation on the New York
