Lisbon [antikvár]

This glowing mist over the city, the river, Ever-present the gulls, ships, people, Hurrying or with time to spare, This glowing mist basking Lisbon in mild light, Rose and lemon over the Tejo, This waterly light, I desire nothing else, step after step.Eugenio de Andrade, *1923With its million inhabitants, Lisbon is a modern European metropolis. All the threads of the land are bound here - all important political, economic, cultural, and public impulses spread from the great Portuguese city to the rest of Portugal. The city has no rival. This central importance of a capital, comparable to the role Paris plays for France, isn't always immediately obvious to visitors - unless they are Portuguese from other parts of the country, whose purposes can be adequately fulfilled only in Lisbon.The administration is housed in old and honorable buildings whose exteriors give their stamp to the city's atmosphere as much as does the building boom that has continued for over two hundred years: residential and sacred buildings, industrial plants and palaces, noble villas and simple lodgings.In this city, one senses the perseverance of history.Lisboa once made itself the center of a world empire - a Mundo Portugues or a Lusitanian Universe, as the Portuguese sometimes refer to it. Lisbon was once the richest city in the world, thanks to those voyages of discovery, it's a pity you weren't granted an audience five hundred years ago, you would have found it veiled in the scents of the spices of overseas realms , said a character in one of Thomas Mann's novels. Commissioned by kings, church, and trade, the captains and their crews set out to sea from Lisbon. The Portuguese ruled the seven seas and many, many territories.The world has changed. Lisbon is long since the seat of government of a parliamentary democracy that guides the destiny of the country's eleven provinces, as well as of the Azores, Madeira, and Porto Santo, far from the mother country in the Atlantic. Portugal's presence in Macao, on the coast of China, is, today, solely pro forma and will end in 1999.Of Portugal's former global hegemony, only the world language Portuguese remains - it is spread over all the continents, in some cases as the official language. In our time, Lisbon has developed new and peaceful relations with the Portuguese-speaking parts of the world. From them, conversely, this capital is eyed with hope - especially since Portugal's membership in the European Common Market results in the prospect of Lisbon's beneficial influence there on behalf of the former Lusitanian Universe.We can hope that Lisbon will fulfill other expectations as well. The city offers a variety of encounters with long ages of European history: The historical substance, grown community, and that impressive patina shouldn't be foolishly sacrificed for modernization.In other respects, contemporary Lisbon has known how to retain moderate dimensions. Anonymity and coldness, characteristic of every large city, are very limited here. The people, the climate, and also the gastronomy make enjoying oneself easy for visitors, whetherfrom far or near.Werner Radasewsky