Padrão. Casa-Obsessão: A Monument Reimagined

This exhibition at the Padrão dos Descobrimentos in Lisbon explores the monument's enduring presence in Portuguese collective imagination. Curated by researcher Ellen W. Sapega, it brings together a vast collection of objects, documents, and materials that have used the monument as a visual reference since 1940.

Visitors can trace how the Padrão's image has moved beyond its commemorative function to become a symbol open to successive interpretations. The display weaves together memories, political discourses, everyday objects, and artistic interventions, revealing the layered history of a monument built during the Estado Novo, rebuilt in 1960, and constantly revisited by contemporary eyes.

The result is a portrait of a living monument—simultaneously celebrated, questioned, and reinvented—whose relevance continues to fuel debate about history, identity, and collective memory. It's a thought-provoking journey through the many faces of an iconic landmark.