National Geographic has explored the planet for over 130 years and is distinguished by challenging, protecting and inspiring humanity to go beyond. It all started in 1888 with an invitation, which brought together the 33 founders of the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C. Among them geologists and cartographers, bankers and lawyers, scientists and military leaders began to delineate the purpose of the organisation. Everyone believed that science coupled with a clearer perception of our world would have the power to change it, improving it. With neither staff nor headquarters, the National Geographic Society began charting new routes, discovering new cultures and going beyond. We celebrate Alexander Graham Bell, Amelia Earheart, Alexander Graham Bell, Robert A. Bartlett, Richard E. Byrd, Barry Bishop, Jane Goodall, Sylvia Earle, Dian Fossey, Jacques Cousteau, Robert E. Peary, and so other big names in the National Geographic’s history. To share the expeditions, discoveries and scope, the National Geographic magazine was created in 1888. Its first edition was sent to an exclusive list of 200 members. In 2015, the National Geographic Partners was founded and its platform reaches over 450 million people, 43 languages, in 172 countries every month. The will of our 33 founders was fulfilled. We reached the four corners of the earth and went further. 131 years later, we continue to point our lenses at the most inhospitable places and the harshest realities of our planet, we continue to pursue big questions and challenge thoughts once accepted, we continue to protect and inspire humanity to go beyond. But none of this would be possible without your contribution. Thanks to you we have already awarded over 14,000 research grants, supporting ambitious projects in the areas of science, exploration and conservation. When you read, watch, buy or travel with us, you are supporting the work of our scientists, explorers and educators around the world. Because of you, our cause exists. Thank you for helping us contribute to a more sustainable planet.

There are more than 5 million Lego bricks, spread over 2,000 square meters, totalling about 100 sets, in 12 themed areas. Includes recreations of iconic films such as the Titanic or the Star Wars saga. With the potential to attract people of all ages, it combines fun with knowledge, as one of the themed areas recreates the human body in LEGO, thus becoming a Biology lesson from a different perspective. For fans of the Star Wars saga, this exhibition is also a must-visit, featuring spaceships, characters, lightsabres, iconic scenes from the films, as there is a strong likelihood of being wowed by the detail put into each reconstruction. The Battle of Coruscant, Trench Run or TIE Fighter are some of the recreations on display in the Star Wars District. The trip is made not only to the futuristic world of this cult series, but also to the historical past, romanticized by the film Titanic. For the Lego construction of the most famous ship of the 20th century, about three meters high and 11 meters long, around 500 thousand bricks were used. There is also a zone dedicated to characters from superhero films to scale, like Captain America or Thor; a 1:1 scale Avenue of Sports Stars, where Robert Lewandowski is on the list; a zone of robotics and fantasy; an animation area, which include the famous blue creatures, The Smurfs, among other attractions, such as train track scale models, and recreations of high-speed train models (Pendolino, ICE and TGV).

Inspired by the triangular shape of the Mezzanine space of Galeria Municipal do Porto as a potencial metarphor for the Bermuda Triangle, Luís Lázaro Matos will transport us to a whirlwind of images kaleidoscopically suspended in space. Progressively interested in contemporary processes of constant monetisation and surveillance in cyber space, the artist has been concerned lately with intersections between the lightness of modern glass architecture and the transparency of social media. Is this triangular area at Galeria Municipal do Porto not only an axhibition space, but also a place of disappearance? Waves And Whirlpools is curated by Martha Kirszenbaum, curator of the France pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, 2019.

We see the Douro through the eyes of pioneering photographers: the magnificence of the terraces descending in gentle waves to the river, the bridges and tunnels by Emílio Biel, the work of the vineyard and the grape harvest of his apprentice, Domingos Alvão, the mimosas or the almond trees in bloom of the Estado Novo tourism. When the colour arrived, the overlapping hues of solstices’ gold and the old reds. This was and is the mythical Douro, with rabelos boats sailed by sailors, descending in a queue to the pier, the barrels towards the warehouses of Gaia. This Douro remains on postcards and advertising pamphlets. Carlos Cardoso, year after year, rebuilt today's Douro, maintaining the reality of its permanencies and changes, in black and white, between the memory of the images and their meaning, which only the contrast of shadow and light can make it clearer. Almost immutable in the time of the Ages, the ancient rocks, the granite of the Iberian massif, the shale of its torrid crushing. The shale blades challenged men and forged the destiny of the vineyard, they are the matrix of the territory. The photographer shows us his power, on the paths, in the blockades, on the ground of almond trees and vineyards, but also the raw material for his direct use and, here and there, the failure of the rock in the face of vegetation or the sign of permanence depending on the divine. On this matrix basis, the men produced the terraces according to their needs, then the levels according to the machines. The civilization of communication appropriates the Douro from the railway and explodes with the road. The landscape is made with iron beams, concrete and reinforced concrete spirals, in an old and new figure. To clarify this, there are no baskets for transporting grapes and protecting glass: the road culture is also that of plastic and ephemeral. So, because it is a photographic look, a new collection of images turns abandonment, neglect and discouragement into beautiful images of remains, of impure signs of pure longing. A visible unity is defined between the gaps in the shale blades, in their illusory solidity and the constructions that speak of the technical levels of man's culture. Both crumble, cover themselves with weeds, tear under the vital impulse of the trees: both speak of a past and a changing present. The shale layers dismantle like the railway tracks, defining new layers of ground. The abandoned stations, created to assert their Portuguese nature, are invaded by a thicket and desolation. Sometimes the two worlds of the old recent and the new intersect, in the geometry of the equipment, but always, always the greatest geometry are the mountains that reduce the scar the road that tears them. This built, marked and suffered Douro is doomed to be a dazzle. The matrix undulating of the mountains is deepened with concentric lines and the very white verticals of the levels; the precipices, the starry shales of gleams, the royal road of the river became systematic appropriations of man. But a viewpoint high above, a repainted bench to rest, the quintas (estates) multiplying the quality of the wine are other responses to what Nature offers or denies: Nature is indifferent to man, indifferent to itself, as a concept. The tension between the critical spirit and the longing or the search for beauty are things of man. This is what these images are about.

From 6 December 2019 to 27 December 2020, the Natural History and Science Museum of the University of Porto (MHNC-UP) hosts, in its core pole (Historical Building of the Rectory of the University of Porto, near Cordoaria Garden), the exhibition Cultures and Geographies. Marking its centennial commemorations, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto (FLUP) co-organizes with the MHNC-UP, and in collaboration with the Soares dos Reis National Museum, an exhibition that presents the collections that were part of the its museology and artistic holdings during the first phase of its existence (1919-1931). Originally used as teaching resources in three museum-rooms of the first FLUP, these collections, which, in 1941, moved to the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, are now in the care of MHNC-UP. Through a set of 250 extraordinary pieces of archaeology and ethnography, visitors will be invited to travel over time and explore ways of life, experiences and rituals of human communities on each of the five continents.

The Mercado da Ribeira consists of 10 stores, and was created after the renovation of the old market. Food products in its traditional form, tourist products and restaurants. Location: Cais da Ribeira (near the north pillar of Luiz I Bridge).

Muita Tralha, Pouca Tralha, Catarina Requeijo's play, focuses on the arduous task of choosing and follows the couple Odete and Alfredo in their decision to go and see their niece Manela participate in a car race. Before traveling one needs to prepare one's luggage. And choosing is not easy, especially when traveling. After all, there is always something that we may need. Who has never wanted to take the whole house? This is where the problems begin. Take what? Little stuff? Too much stuff? Just the essentials? These difficult decisions can complicate the start of the journey. But is it just the start? This is what we will discover at the Auditorium of Grupo Musical de Miragaia and at Casa d'Artes do Bonfim.

"Joaquim Vieira's Porto is by no means the same Porto to what we all presume to know or recognise - it is a more lively and surprising Porto, the imagined and imaginary city of an artist who also invites us to use our imagination as we travel through his spaces, often stunning and unmistakable." - Arnaldo Saraiva

In a circus performance, two aerial acrobats continuously look for balance between two bodies, using a loose rope with two ends at a heigh of 7 meters. That rope, that unstable and unsteady string, changes the audience's perception concerning the bodies on stage. Our start point is that rope wich hangs the need for something else besides a simple connection. We depend upon this rope that leaves us hanging and secures us. That ties us up, but holds us. Every action triggers a cosequence in the state of the other, and it is that linkage that forces us to trust one another.

The mala voadora company brings to us its An English Family event, after the premiere in our programming last year. Festive reunion and annual sharing of English authors and texts dear to the company, this sixth edition brings to Teatro Carlos Alberto and to the Monastery of São Bento da Vitória three shows traversed by the concept of an end, part of a larger programme taking place simultaneously at the mala voadora’s venue in Porto. In Festival, four office employees commit themselves to imagining life after death. Microbes, monitoring systems, switches or multiple versions of ourselves are part of their speculative exercises, in search of nuances of post-mortem happiness. Using as its starting point the book Sum by neuroscientist David Eagleman, Jorge Andrade directs this science fiction show, which brings to a close a trilogy developed by the company around the notion of happiness or paradise.

A series of absolutely improbable, yet extraordinary renditions (featuring Ming Smith, Frida Orupabo and Missylanyus). Renowned director of photography and filmmaker, Arthur Jafa presents in this exhibition works that he has been making as a visual artist for the past two decades. In film, photography and sculpture, Jafa's oeuvre reveals the determinant role of race, gender and social class in mainstream popular culture and in the media in the United States and beyond. From Spike Lee and Stanley Kubrick to Beyoncé and Solange, Arthur Jafa has collaborated with many noteworthy filmmakers, artists and musicians. For this exhibition, Jafa invited photographer Ming Smith and visual artist Frida Orupabo, and incorporated materials from Missylanyus’ YouTube channel to create an audiovisual experience that is both a political reflection and a visionary perspective.

Over the past three decades, Mão Morta divided opinions. They created generational hymns, released 15 albums and became a cult reference in portuguese rock. No Fim Era o Frio, the band's most recent LP, was considered by the specialized press as "the best album of 2019. Its repertoire fills part of this concert, along with classics that all fans demand.

Every Saturday night, Maus Hábitos cultural centre in downtown Porto opens its doors to one of the most beautiful symbols of the Portuguese tradition: Fado. Here on the fourth floor of the classic Passos Manuel Garage - an emblem of the city, you can discover a new generation of singers and emerging musicians. Miguel Bandeirinha, one of the greatest new voices of traditional Fado is the host of these intimate dinners that delight all the senses. MENU Starter: Traditional smoked sausages and cheese. Main Course: Codfish with chickpeas, sautéed kale and crunchy cornbread or Maus Hábitos Roasted pulled pork Dessert: Dark Chocolate Brownie or Artisan Ice Cream Drinks: 2 soft drinks per person or a bottle of wine (Maçanita Branco Douro) / Sangria for each two persons