Estrela Park

Brief information

The wrought-iron bandstand in the center of Estrela Park is older than its current location: it was built in 1884 for Lisbon’s Public Park and was moved to Estrela only in 1936, after the construction of Avenida da Liberdade. As a result, the park reads not as a completely unified composition, but as a place to which the city transferred an important element of its former public life.

The park itself opened in 1852 opposite the Estrela Basilica. Its history took an unexpected turn: in the 1870s, a cage with a lion appeared here, and there were even plans to turn the park into a zoo. This did not happen, and the cage was dismantled at the end of the 20th century, but this fact changes how one sees the quiet garden: it was once imagined as a much more spectacular space.

What to notice first

It makes sense to compare the park’s three visible strands: memorial sculptures, the wrought-iron bandstand, and the living area by the water. The sculptural compositions are dedicated to Portuguese writers, artists, performers, and political figures; they turn the walking space into a series of personal monuments, rather than simply a green pause among the streets.

The bandstand in the center is important as an object with its own biography: its metalwork and concert function are connected with another Lisbon park, from which it was moved. The pond with ducks, geese, and swans, as well as peacocks and parrots, recall another, more living function of the garden. Together, these details present the park as a collection of urban relocations, monuments, and traces of an unrealized zoo.