The European Film Academy today released a list of eleven “treasures of European film culture, which must be maintained and protected”, and among them is the Tivoli Theatre, which turned one hundred years old in 2024.

The creation of this list of “treasures” aims to list places and spaces that are symbolic for European cinema, “places of historical value that must be maintained and protected not only now but for future generations,” says the academy in a press release.

Located on Avenida da Liberdade, the Tivoli Theatre was built by Adolfo de Lima Mayer and is the result of an architectural project by Raul Lino.

The theater opened in 1924, with the premiere of the silent film “Imperial Violets” by Henry Roussel, and at the time, it was considered the largest movie theater in the country, with 1,114 seats.

Between the late 1980s and 1990s, the Tivoli went through a turbulent period during which it was even at risk of being demolished. However, due to public pressure, this plan did not go ahead. The civic movement that arose at the time was unable, however, to prevent part of the building from being mutilated to make way for the construction of a hotel car park,” reads the official website of the concert hall.

The Tivoli Theatre is currently privately managed by the entertainment production company UAU, which acquired it in 2012, and is a stage for film screenings and performing arts, especially theatre and music. In 2015, it was classified as a national monument.