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The Portuguese Cultural Foundation is committed to putting people in touch with the best sites on the web designed to help educate the public about Portuguese culture. This page will be updated as much as possible and we welcome suggestions from viewers. |
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We will, however, reserve the right to promote those sites which have demonstrated a serious knowledge of a particular subject area or those which are gateways to other significant sites. |
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The best compilation of Portuguese master painters on the internet. This site, maintained by the University of Coimbra, Portugal's oldest university, has hundreds of artists represented. They are arranged alphabetically as well as chronologically. Seis Séculos de Pintura Portuguesa is an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike. The quality of the full color reproductions is excellent. Each painting is fully annotated, and the dates of each painter is included. |
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The collection of all the museums in Portugal under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture. Links to all the museums with websites. With few exceptions these are the very best museums in Portugal. The site also has a page with links to museums not under the Ministry's jurisdiction in Portugal and in select places around the world. |
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Other than the national museums which are the responsibility of Portugal's Ministry of Culture there are many other museums of interest in Portugal. This site has links to 93 of the smaller museums in Portugal which nonetheless have some very significant collections. |
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Complete collection of the museums of the Azores, courtesy of the Direcção Regional dos Assuntos Culturais, the regional government's cultural affairs department. Many other cultural activities are highlighted on this website. Mostly in Portuguese. |
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bookstores |
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This bookstore is one of the largest in Lisbon and has a very deep collection. Their website, in English, is one of the best organized on the web. Although both Amazon and Barnes and Nobles have huge collections, Buchholz has the edge on books on Portugal, and in Portuguese. |
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This site is maintained by the association of Portuguese universities from the northern region of the country (AURN). This active organization lists many of the study programs offered by these universities. The site is in Portuguese and is not comprehensive for the entire country. |
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This website, entirely in English, is maintained by Coimbra University for the benefit of foreign students. Founded in 1290, Coimbra University is the second oldest University in the world. This site is a basic introduction to the university for prospective foreign students. |
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With an endowment of over $2 billion, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is the largest private foundation in Europe. Started by the famous oil broker, Calouste Gulbenkian, this foundation is truly multifaceted. It funds projects in many areas, including social services, health, and the arts. It maintains a first quality symphony orchestra, an internationally recognized ballet company, and two of Portugal's best museums. This website, entirely in English, explains the particulars. |
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This site lists all the activities of the Camões Institute in the United States. The Camões Institute is funded by the government of Portugal and its goals are to disseminate Portuguese language and culture around the world. They are known for funding professors of Portuguese Studies in foreign universities and also promote a variety of cultural activities such as traveling exhibits. |
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The Luso-American Development Foundation, based in Lisbon, is an institution formed as a result of a bilateral treaty between the United States and Portugal. Its primary purpose is to foster development in Portugal through joint projects with American institutions and companies. It also has a strong component that sponsors projects which promote Portuguese culture in the United States. |
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Large general map of continental Portugal courtesy of the library at the University of Texas in Austin. Not very up-to-date, but most cities and towns are listed. |
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Very good map made to scale of the nine island archipelago of the Azores by Pierre Sousa Lima. |
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Very decent on-line English-language history of Portugal. This briefing, which also contains a contemporary social, political, and economic analysis, is maintained by the Library of Congress and is what many US diplomats read before being assigned to Portugal. |
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Good English-language bibliography on the history of Portugal and its colonial empire. |
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This excerpt from Vasco da Gama's journals during his fateful voyage to India in 1498 gives a special insight into the mind and spirit of the great navigator. The site is courtesy Fordham University. |
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It is difficult to understand contemporary Portugal and the Portuguese without some knowledge of the impact of Antonio Salazar, Portugal's ruler for almost half a century. This study, provided by the University of Dundee in Great Britain, is a well-balanced look at how this man was able to impose his will on a nation for so long. Although it is not a biography it provides many insights into Salazar's thinking. |
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The newly revised (1992) constitution of Portugal, translated in its entirety in English. This is an important historical document because it was created originally in 1974 as a result of a military overthrow of an authoritarian regime, replacing it with a parliamentary style democracy. |
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This site has a brief history of the Portuguese presence in Hawaii. Well researched, with period photos, it provides students and the general public a good overview of the early days of settlements in Hawaii and the contributions of the Portuguese to the local culture. |
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The Cultural Institute of the Azores has embarked on an ambitious program of documenting all the traditional architecture of the Azores Islands. This exhaustive inventory is available on-line. They have started with the Island of Pico, and it is their intention to document every relevant architectural vestige of the entire archipelago regardless of condition. Fascinating work for students of material culture. Text in Portuguese complete with photos of each sample. |
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The best on-line dictionary of the Portuguese language. |
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Also available on the same website: an English-Portuguese Dictionary and a Portuguese-English Dictionary by Porto Editora. |
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This translation service will translate words, sentences, paragraphs, and even entire websites! Not 100% reliable, because it is a machine, after all, but if you are willing to put up with a few errors of syntax, grammar, and a few omissions, you should be able to understand the basic sense of what is being said. A must for people with no knowledge of Portuguese. |
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A large collection of current Portuguese language books and tapes for sale at Amazon.com. This is the complete collection of readily available materials designed to teach Americans the Portuguese language. |
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libraries |
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The Biblioteca Nacional has organized the entire library collections of Portugal in one giant database. There is no book in Portuguese public libraries that cannot be searched for on-line here. A newly revised English section is in progress. A must for any serious scholar. |
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This website has links to all the university libraries in Portugal that can be accessed on-line. Many of them have pages in English. Also, the larger libraries offer a choice of format, either web-based (www) or the more conventional telnet format used by most US public libraries. An invaluable resource for students and scholars. |
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literature |
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This short article by the Encyclopedia Britannica is nonetheless a fairly comprehensive introduction to the major periods of the literature of Portugal. Comes with suggested reading list as well as a brief critical studies listing. |
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Fernando Pessoa is recognized by most experts in Portuguese literature as Portugal's greatest modern poet. In this collection one can read some of his works translated into English as well as some of the poems he actually wrote in English. Many of his poems in Portuguese can be accessed as well. |
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For those with more than a cursory knowledge of the Portuguese language, the Lusiads is the ultimate experience in Portuguese literature. In this site, the book length epic poem is rendered in its entirety. Don't let the easy-to-read format fool you. This is real heady stuff. For advanced readers of the language only. |
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Although this fairly highbrow cultural magazine is written in Portuguese, there are sections on the visual arts that include photographs of selected works of up and coming artists in Portugal. An invaluable aid for people wishing to stay on top of the contemporary art scene in Portugal or find new artists for possible inclusion in exhibits. |
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For those with a good working knowledge of Portuguese, this media outlet is one of the best on-line sources for contemporary news about Portugal and for understanding the unique Portuguese point of view. |
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Worldwide broadcast of Portugal's national TV network. Uneven programming, but the network occasionally will show classic films. Good vehicle for those looking to practice the language. Available in the US by cable where there are large concentrations of immigrants. Otherwise, available by satellite systems like DISH network or DirecTV. |
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music |
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A modest site with a limited number of composers, but the principal masters from the Baroque to the Romantic periods are there. |
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search |
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Portuguese portal similar to Yahoo! Many useful categories. |
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Portal site for the Azores Islands. This site is well organized and provides a great entrance to most of the sites about the Azores and from the Azores. Although most sites are in Portuguese, many are in English due to the great interest in the Azores in New England and California. |
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A generalized search engine for the Azores with accompanying site in English. |
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This Portuguese search engine is the most popular in Portugal and is searchable by using the search window below. You can search in both English and Portuguese but you will get more results using Portuguese. |
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TIP You can use the above English-Portuguese language dictionary by Porto Editora to look up words in English and translate them, drop the Portuguese word in the search box below and if you find something that looks interesting, you can use the AltaVista translation service above to translate the whole website. |
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