After almost 120 years as a Jesuit culture magazine, Brotéria came out of the paper and moved to Bairro Alto with the desire to become the meeting point between the Christian faith and contemporary urban cultures. The new cultural space of the Jesuits, located in the heart of Lisbon, was opened to the public on January 25th, in a former Palace and is the result of a partnership with the Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Lisbon.

This is a project that has been under construction for two years, but which began to be dreamed and thought about almost thirty years ago. The opening program was born from the relationship with the street, since the cultural activity of Brotéria will try to give voice to the concerns of people who are entering the cultural game that is offered, where there is space for time, spontaneity and discussion. It included conferences about urban life, the relation between tradition, women and the city with the church, artistically performances and DJ actuation.  

Until May the gallery will have an exhibition where the historical journey of Brotéria is recreated. The magazine will continue its regular publication.

The Portuguese President of the Republic made a private visit to the new cultural center during the inauguration days. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa underlined the importance of putting the different dimensions of live in relation with one another as desired by the new cultural center.

"What we believe is that the relevance of Brotéria as a cultural agent depends on constant attention to the urban reality, from a multiplicity of angles, always cemented in five strands of activity: research, dialogues, communication, spirituality and gallery", explains Fr. Francisco Mota SJ, director of Brotéria, adding that "for this to happen, we have a group of people we call Observatory, which meets regularly to listen to reality. We need to continue to nourish a joint reflection that guarantees the vitality, relevance and organicity of all the activity promoted by Brotéria. Then it is from this collective and plural view that new initiatives emerge and from which the themes explored in the programme emerge. Each theme is this: a process of integrated, dynamic and collective research and reflection that takes advantage of the multidisciplinary character of the centre and the programming to look for possible paths to the initial question brought by the exercise of listening to reality".

The space includes a gallery, a bookshop, a cafeteria with a patio and rooms for debates, conferences or meetings, among which two large halls stand out, both with worked ceilings and capacity for 80 people each, and the Leather Room, the ex-libris of the building, with walls fully lined with worked leather.

The building will also host the famous and vast library of the Jesuit community, which contains more than 160 thousand volumes that are now more accessible to the public. The top floor of the building will house the Jesuit Community House involved in the life of Brotéria.

From research to debate, from art to spirituality, through digital and paper communication, Brotéria brings together people from different areas and sensibilities, as well as different institutions, with the desire to generate social transformation. It will be energized by a team of Jesuits in collaboration with people of various ages and areas of interest.

For society, Brotéria hopes to be a place of plural, intelligent and creative dialogue, where cultural work has a social impact, be it through awareness raising, research and publications, as well as local intervention projects. For the Church, Brotéria hopes to be a place of theological and aesthetic reflection, with a contemporary language.