The Campo Pequeno Bullring is the bull ring

Bull ring

Bull ring may refer to:*The arena in which bullfighting takes place, see bullring,*The Bull Ring, a henge in England;*Bull Ring, Birmingham - a city-centre area of Birmingham, England;...

 of Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. It is located in the Campo Pequeno Square, by the Avenida da República. After a profound renovation, it re-opened as a multi-event venue in 2006, designed to be used for various events apart from bull fighting. It hosts a range of live acts and has seen many famous bands perform there. It includes an underground shopping centre, restaurants and a parking lot.

History

Lisbon's bullring was built between 1890 and 1892 under the project of Portuguese architect António José Dias da Silva. His design was inspired by the bullring of Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, by Emilio Rodriguez Ayuso, later demolished. The style is the neo-Mudéjar

Mudéjar

Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...

, a Romantic style inspired by the old Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 architecture from Iberia

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

. Lisbon's new bull ring replaced an old one, located in the Campo de Santana.

The building

The bull ring has a circular floorplan with four large octagonal towers on each cardinal point with oriental-looking dome

Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....

s. The Western tower is flanked by two turret

Turret

In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...

s and serves as main entrance. The many windows of the building have a typical horseshoe

Horseshoe

A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...

 shape. The entire surface of the building is covered by bricks of orange colour. The inner arena has 80 metres of diameter and is covered with sand. The seats hold almost 10,000 people.

Bull Fighting

Unlike Spanish bull fighting the bull is not killed at the end of the fight. This was decreed by king Miguel of Portugal

Miguel of Portugal

Dom Miguel I, sometimes Michael , was the King of Portugal between 1828 and 1834, the seventh child and second son of King John VI and his queen, Charlotte of Spain....

during his reign of 1828-1834 as he considered it inhumane to the animal.