Lisbon, one of the most important ports of call in 15th-century Europe, retains its mystique as a city of seafarers, a multi-ethnic melting pot. Taking shape on the 800-acre site along the Tagus riverfront are new commercial complexes, hotels, a multimodal transport system, residential housing, parks, promenades and a new marina to accommodate 700 to 900 boats.Īll this new stuff is fine, but foreigners visiting Portugal for the first time would be cheating themselves not to check out some of the old. There are also four other thematic pavilions - Knowledge of the Seas, Pavilion of the Future, Portuguese National Pavilion and Utopia Pavilion.Īt the same time, a virtual new city is rising in a once-remote section of Lisbon that had been a desultory area of old docks, refineries and warehouses. As Europe's largest aquarium, it will be renamed the Lisbon Oceanarium and remain open as a tourist attraction after the exposition closes. The centerpiece is the new $65 million Ocean Pavilion, a man-made island rising out of the sea and future home to 25,000 sea creatures. More than 140 nations are participating in Expo '98.
#1998 world exposition oceanarium series#
In a series of warm-up acts that began in mid-February and will lead up to the Expo opening, the Festival of 100 Days is presenting the cultural creations of the 20th century in exhibitions, concerts of classical and light music, opera, ballet, theater (even Tennessee Williams) and cinema. 30, but actually the folks in Lisbon kicked off the party long before most of their guests got to town. The Portuguese fleet of four ships arrived in Calicut, India - now called Kozhikode- in May 1498 and Lisbon was on its way to becoming Europe's richest capital.Įxpo officially runs from May 22 to Sept. It was half a millennium ago that the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope on an epic voyage to reach India and open a trade route between Europe and the spice-rich Far East. Also, it will celebrate the 500th anniversary of a pivotal event in Portuguese history. It's the Portuguese capital's largest urban renewal project since the rebuilding after an earthquake and tidal wave in 1775 razed the city.Įxpo '98 has as its theme "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future" and will emphasize the bounty of the sea and the threats to it.
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