Instituto Superior Técnico, Palácio das Galveias e Caleidoscópio

I present you three different places to study, two free of entry, and one reserved only to the University of Lisbon students. If you live near Alameda or Saldanha, or near to Campo Pequeno and Campo Grande, these can be very useful!

Instituto Superior Técnico - Pavilhão de Civil

If you are a Instituto Superior Técnico student, or just a person who lives in the Alameda/Saldanha area, and like to study in an environment surrounded by students, then you should try Pavilhão de Civil (in translation it means Civil Pavilion, as it is a space in the civil engineering and architecture building dedicated to study). This place is free for everyone to enter, as long as it is not crowded. When this happens, security guards usually ask for the University of Lisbon student card, but it is very rare, and normally they will just open more rooms so everyone can study there.

Many rooms are available to study here, but only one has air conditioning. This room is called "Aquário" (aquarium in portuguese) and it can be the noisiest room in the whole campus. Normally people come here to do group projects or just have some fun with their friends. Nonetheless, if you are a person that isn't bothered by noise then you will like it as it is very well illuminated by all the light that enters through its glass walls, and the air conditioning maintains it constantly fresh. The other rooms are also very noisy and do not have an AC, but are really good in the winter because they are small rooms and the amount of people that study here end up heating the room with their body's heat! Finally, there is also a silent room here, so if you like to study in silence you are also welcome to this place.

You can also study outside in the bar's terrace when there is good weather!

There are many other places in IST campus where you can study, some reserved only to the university students and some open to everyone, but Pavilhão de Civil is the only one that is open twenty four hours per day, and it only closes for the IST fest and for Christmas.

Palácio das Galveias - Public Library

Near to Instituto Superior Técnico you have Palácio das Galveias (Galveias Palace in translation) which is a really beautiful palace with a garden and a kiosk and lots of rooms and books to study. The palace has a really old and beautiful architecture from the seventeenth century, and is a good example of aristocratic housesin the sixteen hundreds.

Later it become a municipal library which is what it is today. It is open to everyone and offers a big variety of books for consultation. To borrow one you have to create a library card.

Here you have lots of rooms to study, a balcony included, and all of them are really silent, everyone respects this, and it has a very calm atmosphere. When you finish your studying you can head to the garden, ask for a coffee in the kioskand sit in a table while catching some sun.

The palace is located in Campo Pequeno and you can reach it by catching the subway to Campo Pequeno station using the yellow line.

Caleidoscópio

You can also use the yellow line to go to Caleidoscópio if you leave in the Entrecampos, Cidade Universitária or Campo Grande Stations. This building is reserved to University of Lisbon students. It is very spacious and well illuminated. It is very recent and is located in Jardim do Campo Grande. It is a silent place to study, so expect a very calm atmosphere here. Usually it is very full, but you can find a place for yourself to study. In the same building you have a Macdonalds if you feel hungry and want to eat something.

Check out my full article on Lisbon for more places and experiences in the city!