Alliance Française celebrates 80 years in Algarve

The Alliance Française do Algarve is celebrating its 80th anniversary with a free cultural event in Olhão on Monday, July 13, combining French National Day celebrations with eight decades of promoting French language and culture in the Algarve.

The Grande Festa de 13 de Julho will take place from 9pm at the Jardim Pescador Olhanense, overlooking the Ria Formosa, with live music and entertainment open to residents, visitors and the region’s francophone community.

The evening begins with a concert by French-speaking singer Benjamin Piat, accompanied by Algarve accordionist Jorge Alves, bringing together classic French chanson with local musical influences.

From 10.30pm, DJ Nuno Silva will take over with a dance party featuring some of the biggest hits of the 1980s.

Founded in 1946, the Alliance Française do Algarve is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the French language and strengthening cultural ties between Portugal and France. Based in Faro, it offers French language courses for children, teenagers and adults, houses a French-language library, serves as an official examination and certification centre, and regularly organises cultural and educational initiatives in partnership with schools and institutions across the region.

This year’s celebration is supported by Olhão Municipality and the French Embassy in Portugal, and marks both Bastille Day and the Alliance’s long-standing contribution to cultural exchange in the Algarve.

Admission is free, with festivities getting under way from 9pm.

Inês Lopes

Newspaper editor at The Portugal Resident