education classes, resulting in a modular system of pavilions used for complimentary classes, with patios and exterior recreational spaces. The principal wings, used for traditional teaching rooms were linked to new sporting pavilions, gymnasium, change rooms and projected swimming pool (which were unique for the country at the time). The lyceum was a public utility, functional and rationalist. It was projected to integrate into the urban fabric, albeit isolated initially. Ventura Terra delineated a construction model that was more simple then the habitual designs, responding to the a request by the first rector of the Central Lyceum, Rui Teles Palhinha: construction of a building that purpose built...that obeyed the principals of the utmost economy, with the eye to a precise school of airyness and light...and dispensing with pumice and rich woods. Ventura Terra therefore included rectangular articulated blocks, using new materials for the time (iron and tile) and a composition that did not include closed corridors in favour of halls open to the patio and exterior galleries, and multiple recreational spaces. Two decades later, in 1927, two pavilions were constructed for physical education and chemistry classes, in response to new reforms in the education system, along with the necessity to alienate the laboratories from the principal installations, to avoid accidents. In the 1930s, the building was remodelled, in order to expand students, as well as install a new canteen and annexes. The DGEMN began work on the site in 1954, with periodic repairs and conservation projects, by the Direcção dos Serviços de Construção e Conservação (1954), then the Serviços de Construção e Conservação (1957 and 1961). In 1959, two pavilions/halls were constructed by the Serviços de Construção e Conservação, in conjunction with the Junta de Construções para o Ensino Técnico e Secundário. In 1970, a bust of Camões commissioned and executed by Fernando Fernandes, which was presented in 1972. On 3 August 2006, the Vice-President of IPPAR initiated a process to classify the building, that terminated on 6 December 2011 with its classification as a Monumento de Interesse Público by the DRCLVTejo. Architecture The site is situated in an urban landscape, occupying half of the block delimited by the Praça José Fontana, Rua Almirante Barroso, Rua da Escola de Medicina Veterinária and Rua Dona Estefânia. The Praça José Fontana (a triangular "square") and organized around the Jardim de Henrique Lopes de Mendonça fronts the main facade of the school, separated