LISBON.- 111,000 visits, 379 participants, 76 educational activities, 17 independent projects, three central exhibitions, three days of debates, three awards and one book. The figures from the 2025 edition, ‘How Heavy Is a City?’, reinforce the Lisbon Triennale’s standing on the international stage.
Over its nine-week run, the Lisbon Triennale 2025 recorded a 72% increase in attendance compared to the previous edition in 2022, making it one of the most widely visited editions in the Triennale’s history.
The opening days, entirely free and open to the public, welcomed over one thousand invited guests and around forty international media outlets, amplifying the Triennale’s global reach across countries including Brazil, Malaysia, Finland, and Australia. One of the highlights was the programme dedicated to the three Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Awards – Achievement, Début, and Universities – which featured lectures by Achievement Award laureate, Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari, and the five Début Award finalists.
Responding to the challenge set by curators Ann-Sofi Rönnskog and John Palmesino, all participants (from 41 countries across six continents) were invited to pose a question that framed their contribution and helped shape this edition.
In total, the questions reached the symbolic number of one hundred, expressed throughout three central exhibitions and 17 independent projects presented across multiple venues throughout the city, including Palácio Sinel de Cordes, the Belém Cultural Centre (CCB), MAAT, MUDE – Design Museum and MNAC; the Talk, Talk, Talk debate series, once again hosted by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; and the official accompanying publication.
The scale of the 2025 Triennale reflects the ambition articulated by its curators: to form a coalition of architects, activists, poets, artists, historians, scientists, philosophers, cyberneticians and an international audience to reflect on what makes urban life possible – and how to make cities lighter.
For the past two decades, Lisbon has positioned itself as a global meeting ground for spatial research. At a time of rapid global change, the Triennale is honoured to be recognised as one of Europe’s leading institutions in architectural discourse.
Looking ahead, the Lisbon Architecture Triennale renews its mission to engage an ever-growing audience and to bring together original, relevant and transformative work. Its 8th edition will take place in autumn 2028, curated by Portuguese architect Joaquim Moreno.
