Agenda
GULBENKIAN.PT
  • Performance
  • Families
  • M/5

The Democracy Library

Event Slider

Date

  • 10:00 / Cancelled 10:00 / Sold out 10:00 – 18:00
  • 10:00 / Cancelled 10:00 / Sold out 10:00 – 18:30
  • 11:00 / Cancelled 11:00 / Sold out 11:00 – 19:30
  • 11:00 / Cancelled 11:00 / Sold out 11:00 – 16:30
  • 11:00 / Cancelled 11:00 / Sold out 11:00 – 17:00
  • 11:00 / Cancelled 11:00 / Sold out 11:00 – 17:00

Location

Engawa Gulbenkian Garden
Jardim das Ondas

Gulbenkian Garden

Pricing

Free entry
Subject to room capacity
Recalling the legendary Gulbenkian Mobile Libraries and their vital role in spreading democracy, the CAM and the Gulbenkian Museum have invited Biblioteca Aletria to take part in a new programme for children, young people and families centred on the practice of democracy and active citizenship.

In this library built by many hands you can read freely, talk with invited guests, debate the ideas that affect us individually and collectively, listen to staged readings, imagine other cities, visit exhibitions and discover artists’ work, amplify all our voices, take decisions together and play democratically. All of it revolving around words that matter to us: citizenship, democracy, freedom, imagination and artistic creation.

For children, young people and adults, because the world we dream of is one we build together!

Books for the Democracy Library

Recommend four books!

If we were to create a Democracy Library, a kind of seed bank for democratic values and practices, which books would we choose? Which authors and works should be part of this collection?

This is a participatory library, open to everyone who would like to contribute suggestions.

From October 2026 to June 2027, the project will take place in one of the former Gulbenkian Mobile Library vans, which will house a collection that is constantly evolving. To contribute ideas or donate books, please fill in the form and become part of this collective process.

Each participant may choose four books they consider essential for reflecting on the contemporary world and the challenges facing democracy, from any genre or field of knowledge. The suggestions will be gathered and taken into account in the creation of a diverse and open collection.

Participate
Language: Portuguese

Programme

10:00 – 18:00 / Open Library

Free reading from the ever-growing collection of the Library of Democracy.

10:00 – 11:00 / Pop-up Readings

Readings of selected excerpts from The City of Children by Francesco Tonucci.

11:00 – 12:00 / Conversation

An open conversation for everyone on the themes explored in The City of Children, a work in which Italian educational psychologist Francesco Tonucci reflects on how urban environments can be transformed around two fundamental needs of children: freedom of movement and genuine participation in political decision-making.
Biblioteca Aletria – Susana Pires, Joana Elisa and Luís Pulido

15:00 – 17:30 / Democracity Game

Democracity is an educational game that simulates the building and governance of a community, strengthening participants’ understanding of democratic values and highlighting the importance of dialogue and compromise. Led by MyPolis, the game will allow participants to experience, in a practical and fun way, the process of building a community, inviting them to form political parties, debate priorities and work together to create a balanced city. Minimum age: 11 years.

15:30 – 16:30 / Children’s Building Site Workshop

An Italian author proposes that cities should be designed from children’s point of view. What if we could actually design such a city together? What ideas would you suggest? What do you think is truly important in a city? How would you like to get around? Who are streets, gardens and squares designed for? In this workshop, we will talk, debate and build a three-dimensional scale model of our ideal city. The aim is to leave feeling inspired and equipped with ideas and arguments to approach the local political representatives in the places where we live and ask them to help us build our city together. For children aged 7 to 14, accompanied by their parents.
Biblioteca Aletria – Susana Pires, Joana Elisa and Luís Pulido

10:00 – 16:30 / Open Library

Free reading from the ever-growing collection of the Library of Democracy.

10:30 – 13:00 / Democracity Game

Democracity is an educational game that simulates the building and governance of a community, strengthening participants’ understanding of democratic values and highlighting the importance of dialogue and compromise. Led by MyPolis, the game will allow participants to experience, in a practical and fun way, the process of building a community, inviting them to form political parties, debate priorities and work together to create a balanced city. Minimum age: 11 years.

Credits

Concept and direction

Biblioteca Aletria

Equipas educativas CAM e Museu Gulbenkian

Programa Gulbenkian Democracia e Sociedade Civil

Cookies settings

Cookies Selection

This website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience, security, and its website performance. We may also use cookies to share information on social media and to display messages and advertisements personalised to your interests, both on our website and in others.

These cookies are used to enhance your browsing experience, security and our website's performance, allowing you to access the main features of the website. Therefore, they are always enabled. This type of cookies includes cookies that allow you to be remembered as you browse the website during a single session.

These cookies collect information about the use of the website to improve the services provided and to evaluate the performance of the website. Some of these cookies may be used to test pages or the functionality of the website by measuring the reaction of users. These cookies may be our own and / or owned by third parties.

These cookies are third-party cookies that allow to connect to social media and share multimedia content from our website on those networks. Some of these cookies help us to adapt advertising outside of our website to the interests of the users. By disabling these cookies, it will no longer be possible to directly share our content in any social media

For more information about cookies and the processing of your personal data, please see the Privacy and Cookies Policy. You can change your cookie settings at any time through the link at the bottom of the page.