Travellers' Checks | Macau’s old Hotel Lisboa the star of exhibition featuring photos captured by locals
- Nostalgic reverie for its birdcage design is born from a contrast to its ugly sister, the Grand Lisboa, next door
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The Golden Guide quoted STDM as saying that the design for the upcoming “vast hotel-cum-amusement centre” was “an exotic blend of Oriental and Occidental architectures that are reflected by the cuisine offered in its restaurants: Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, International, Seafood – and a 24-hour coffee shop.” This was all exciting stuff for the still obscure and sleepy enclave.
Fifty years later, the Lisboa’s colourful main tower is outwardly little changed, and its once oft-maligned and garish space-age-birdcage design has fared better than those of many of its contemporaries around the world. This aesthetic appeal may in part be due to its overshadowing by the STDM’s adjacent Grand Lisboa, which has appeared on several “world’s ugliest hotels” lists since it opened more than a decade ago. Late last year, the Lisboa ran a competition inviting locals to submit photos of the hotel taken over the past half-century, to be included in a “Hotel Lisboa 50th Anniversary Photo Gallery”. The winners will be exhibited at the hotel throughout February.
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