Lisbon has many colors. And colors tell stories. In recent years, some of the city's buildings have returned to their original colors, restoring an important part of their history, as was the case of the Santa Apolónia train station, the São Carlos Theater and the Queluz Palace.

Over the years, there were harmful practices that erased the colors of Lisbon's buildings. But the concern with the past and with the integrity of the buildings has changed things, as it happened in the Santa Apolónia train station.

Traces have been found and a 1967 photograph showed that the facades of Santa Apolónia were red, a color that was replaced by blue in 1990. Last year, red returned to the walls for the construction of a hotel.

Santa Apolónia was not the only one.

In 2019, the restoration of the São Carlos Theater, which was yellow since 1940. In this process, blue squares were discovered under the yellow color. There was, in fact, evidence of the presence of this blue, as can be seen in a 19th century engraving, by an unknown author, which painted it blue-green.

Today, the theater is blue again, just as it was when it was inaugurated in 1793, on the orders of D. Maria I. Its sides remain yellow - whether they were so in the past, there is no certainty.

Blue has also returned to the façade of Queluz Palace, built in 1747. On October 5, 1934, a fire partially destroyed the Palace and the color chosen by architect Raul Lino for the restoration was pink.

However, at the end of the 20th century, when traces of blue were found and the description of a traveler, who wrote that he saw a "brownish" palace, as well as a watercolor drawing by an unknown author, the Palace returned to its original blue.

And just like Santa Polónia and the São Carlos Theater, besides recovering its color, it has also recovered an important part of its history.

By Ana da Cunha