Lisbon’s Estádio Nacional: An Adaptable Lieu de mémoire

Abstract

This article examines Lisbon’s National Stadium (opened in 1944, amidst strong expressions of nationalistic pride) in the light of Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de mémoire, while taking issue with his (and others’) insistence on the primacy of national identity. A flexible use of the stadium, not as a fixed monument, but rather as a blank canvas onto which successive generations of football fans have imposed their varying memories and subjective identities (examined through press reports and other contemporary sources), enables the site to retain its place in the popular imagination, in spite of its past political associations.