Cultural Relations and Greek Community

BILATERAL CULTURAL RELATIONS

Conventional framework: The cultural relations between the two countries are based on the bilateral educational agreement of 1980.

Cultural issues

Greece participates in Portugal's EUNIC (Union of National Educational Institutes of the EU, in which member states that do not have educational Institutes - such as Greece - are represented through their Embassies). EUNIC organizes three joint events every year: a) Night of European Literature, b) European Day of Languages and c) European Cinema Week. As part of EUNIC, the Embassy has actively participated in these events in the past and seeks to do so in the future.

Apart from the activities of EUNIC, in Portugal there is interest in modern Greek cinema and music production. There is also an interest in Greece for the typical Portuguese musical genre of fado.

We highlight the following cultural events of Greek interest, during the last two years:
The exhibition "Thalassa, Thalassa”  was organized at the Lisbon Pantheon (10.11.2022- 30.4.2023) with the support of the Embassy. The  exhibition was based on the poems of the famous Portuguese poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (1919-2004),  inspired by her trips to the Aegean islands in Greece. Texts of poems are in original and in Greek translation

On 28.11.2022 a musical concert was organized by the Portuguese-Greek cultural association "Parafonia" to celebrate "Mediterranean Day". At the concert, supported by the Embassy of Greece, the artists performed songs with lyrics by Nikos Kavadias, as well as songs in Greek, Italian and Bulgarian, but also in Greek dialects (griko of Salento) from south Italy.

A reading in Portuguese from the book "Ms. Koula", by Menis Koumandareas, was the Greek contribution to the "Night of European Literature 2022". It was the opening event (4.6.2022) of the largest annual cultural event of EUNIC Portugal (Union of National Educational Institutes of E.U.).

On 1.7.21, an Exhibition titled "Stories of an Empire" was inaugurated (it will last until 28/5/2023).These are artifacts from the large private collection of Indo-Portuguese art (more than 1000, 15th to 19th century), of the Honorary Consul of Greece in Porto, Mr. Álvaro Sequeira Pinto, in the Museum Oriente of Lisbon.

Οn the occasion of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence  of 1821, an article was published, in March 2021 published in the diplomatic magazine Revista Diplomática, of the Ambassador of Greece in Lisbon, in honour of the Portuguese Philhellene, General António Figueira de Almeida, who participated in the last period of the War of  Independence and the initial period of the free  Greek State.

Moreover, in 2020, the anthology "Greek Poetry, from Hesiod to Theocritus", translated by Frederico Lourenço, was republished in Portugal in a bilingual edition. Greek authors, such as Cavafis, Elytis, Koumandareas, Dimitriadis and  Staikos, have also been translated into Portuguese, while various translations in recent years have brought the well-known Portuguese writers Fernando Pessoa and Jose Saramago closer to the Greek readers.

The Embassy actively participates every year in Lisbon, in the celebration of the World Day of the Greek Language on February 9, organized by the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Within the framework of UNESCO, the "Mediterranean diet" has been included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, after the submission of a joint nomination file by Greece, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus and Morocco.



Educational subjects

Greek classical studies in Portugal:

Ancient Greek language and writing is taught at the following Universities:
a) University of Lisbon (Universidade de Lisboa) / Faculty of Philosophy (Faculdade de Letras- FLUL) - Department of Classical Studies
b) New University of Lisbon (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)/Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas -FCSH) - Department of Portuguese Studies
(c) University of Coimbra (Universidade de Coimbra)/Faculty of Philosophy (Faculdade de Letras) - Department of Classical Studies (studies taught by professors of ancient Greek)
d) University of the City of Aveiro/Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures: Teaching of Ancient Greek (elements of ancient Greek and history courses)
e) University of the Algarve (Universidade do Algarve)/Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies (Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais) – Department of Portuguese Literature

Byzantine studies are not represented in any Portuguese University.


Teaching modern Greek language:

a) In Lisbon, there is a Language Learning Department (LED), under the supervision and responsibility of the Greek Ministry of Education, with a secondment of a primary education teacher to teach the Greek language to children of Greek origin as well as the learning of the Greek language and culture to adults (nationals and foreigners).

b) At the New University of Lisbon (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas - FCSH) / Institute of Foreign Languages and Philologies, operates the Department of Modern Greek Studies, where courses of modern Greek language and culture are delivered, with professor José António Costa Ideias in charge. Also, the Institute operates as an official examination centre in Portugal for the Greek Language Certification, with the same professor in charge. Mr. Costa Ideias wishes  to organize a postgraduate study program in modern Greek language, history and culture.


Greeks in Portugal

Due to the small number of Greek nationals scattered throughout Portugal, there are no organized Greek communities in the country. A few Greeks were settled here, coming mainly from the former Portuguese colonies. Some others, mostly young people, settled relatively recently in Portugal, where they found work. During 2020, several of them returned to Greece due to the pandemic. Those who remain are scattered throughout the country.

Since November 2016, a Portuguese-Greek cultural association named "Parafonia" was set up in Lisbon, with the aim of promoting Greek culture, an initiative which the Embassy supported since the very beginning.

As far as the Greek Orthodox people of Portugal are concerned, they are under the jurisdiction of the Madrid-based Metropole of Spain and Portugal of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.