Campo Pequeno - Lisbon's Bullring

Praca de Touros do Campo Pequeno is Lisbon's bull ring, more commonly known as Campo Pequeno after the district of Lisbon it is located in. Praca de Touros do Campo Pequeno is unique in its own styling and design with no influence from the surrounding architecture or of any other building in Lisbon, it is as if a grand Moroccan fort had been transported and placed in the centre of Lisbon.

The spectacle of bull fighting does still continues in Lisbon but there are only a hand full of performances during the year and the ticket are on the pricey side, Portuguese and Spanish bull fight is different - see description later on in the article. The 10,000 seat venue also hosts touring musicians and performers during the off season.

 

The Campo Pequeno's designer António José Dias da Silva was heavily influenced by Moorish design, he construction the bull ring out of dark orange stone with four giant domed towers above each of the impressive entrances. The design was inspired by the bull ring of Madrid but this ring no long exists.

 

The west entrance is considered the main entrance and the domed roof is flanked by two towers. The foundations were dug in 1890 and the entire complex was completed two years later. The bull ring at Campo Pequeno replaced the old stadium at Campo de Santana, nothing remains of this much older ground.

The Campo Pequeno bull ring underwent extensive modernisation and re-opened in 2006 , this included carving out the grounds below the bull ring and constructing a large, modern shopping centre. The spectator’s area was also enhanced and now provides space for 10,000 patrons to be seated during performances.

 

The most significant alteration was the introduction of a removable roof that makes the area space more versatile and can be used all year round and for any purpose including touring performers and music acts. The bull fighting tradition still continues at Campo Pequeno and the bull fighting season is mainly during the summer months.

 

Lisbon's bull ring is located north of the historic central area of Baixa in a district named Campo Pequeno which translate to "small field". Further along the Avenue de Republica is Campo Grande meaning "large field", the Portuguese are very original with their naming of districts!

Spanish and Portuguese bull fights differ in one major aspect; in Portuguese fights the bull is enraged but not put down at the end of the show, animal lovers still may detest the sport but the Portuguese version is significantly less distressing to the animal. This historic difference originates from the king of Portugal who himself deemed it to be unpleasant to the animal and banned the killing of the bull during the show.

 

The bull ring can be easily reached by traveling north on the yellow metro line (Linha Amarelo) and exiting at the Campo Pequeno station, the ring cannot be missed on exiting. below the bull ring there is parking for 1,250 cars, though Lisbon's residence would rather clog the streets surrounding to save a couple of Euros.