The Cine-Teatro Gil Vicente sits on Avenida 25 de Setembro in the Baixa, a few blocks from the Cinema Scala. Opened in 1949, designed by João Ferreira Nunes and Manuel da Costa Mavioso, it is a late Art-Deco masterpiece — pale plaster, curved corners, a long horizontal canopy and the original neon lettering still in place above the doors.
Unlike many of the city's old cinemas it remains in active use, mostly for theatre productions, dance, and occasional film festivals. The interior has been gently restored and the original geometric ceiling is intact. Check the door for the week's programme; tickets, when there is something on, are very cheap.