MAAT celebrates first birthday

More than half a million visitors since opening

October 5 2017

Since opening on 5 October 2016, MAAT has welcomed over 500,000 visitors, making it more popular than any public Portuguese museum.

The last year’s programme of events has seen a number of site specific displays in the Oval Gallery, 23 individual and collective exhibitions and 442 different artists’ work.

EDP Foundation General Manager, Miguel Coutinho, said “MAAT is an important centre for the EDP Foundation, but it is also a very important cultural centre for the city of Lisbon and for Portugal and we believe it contributes to attracting many tourists who like culture… This is a project that challenges us daily to contribute to a more attractive and cosmopolitan city.”

30% of the half a million visitors were from overseas, as the city’s popularity as a tourist destination continues to increase. In November, the footbridge from the Marquês de Angeja, in Belém to MAAT and the riverbank will open.

To celebrate MAAT’s first birthday, three exhibitions open to the public on Wednesday 4 October titled “Shadow Soundings”, by composer Bill Fontana, “Quote / Unquote – Between appropriation and dialogue”, from a selection of works of the EDP Foundation collection, and a video display under the Artists’ Film International programme, along with an Open Day on 5 October. For more information please visit the MAAT Museum website.

In the last year, MAAT has won a number of awards including The Design Prize, Architecture Best of Best at the Iconic Awards, ECCS Steel Design Award of Merit and Museum Architecture of the Year at the LCD Awards.

Images: EDP Foundation