Culture

The statue that, has the name of the city
17 September, 2020 / ,

In the very central Praça da Liberdade, more precisely at the confluence with Rua Dr. Artur de Magalhães Basto next to the Banco de Portugal Building, a statue is installed, nowadays seen drawn and photographed not only by the thousands of people who visit us, but equally by so many locals in their routine passages, and who represents a warrior.

It has a number of peculiarities that in itself arouse some interest.
From the very beginning, the fact that it is possibly the one that most ‘strolled’ through the city. It is now and since 2013 in the place closest to the point where it was designed, which was the top of the triangular pediment of the façade of the palace that existed at the north top of the current Praça da Liberdade where the City Hall was installed for about one hundred years until its demolition in 1916 for the opening of the then Avenida das Nações Aliadas, now Avenida dos Aliados. At that time it was dismounted and placed next to the Episcopal Palace and later on next to the Medieval Wall. Later it was removed again, this time to the Gardens of the Palácio de Cristal until the architect Fernando Távora, in the renovation work of Casa dos 24, installed it in Terreiro da Sé until finally being deposited in the place where it is today.

Another curious aspect is that we know that it was idealized and that is why it was often attributed to the Sculptor João de Sousa Alão but not made by him. He commissioned it from Mestre Pedreiro João Silva, who was actually its author.

The initial idea was to adorn that palace that until then had been a private residence, with symbols that identified it with the new functions of the Headquarters of the City Hall. And so this warrior was conceived with his weapons and a helmet topped by a dragon, as well as a shield where, in addition to the inscription Portus Cale, the Weapons of the City itself appear. For all these reasons, this work received the name of the city itself that symbolizes: “Porto”.

One last reference has to do with the costs and payment contract, because according to the documents of the municipal accounts of that year of 1818, it should be settled in 3 times the amount of… 343 $ 20. If we do not count on the obvious updates, this value corresponds to about € 1.60…

Writers’ route through Porto ( Almeida Garret )
17 September, 2020 / ,

Literary Tourism offers cultural capital because it gives readers the possibility to visit and discover places that are related, inspired, and places that have marked the lives of writers and their assets.

The difficulty in discovering these places shows that there is a lot of work to do in the preservation and dissemination of this heritage. Some of the houses mentioned have an information board, but they are not considered cultural heritage, nor is there a survey, of all the houses that exist.

This type of tourism establishes strong relationships between tourists and their destinations, creative, affective and social relationships.

Porto can thus stand out and differentiate itself as a destination rich in cultural heritage, with history and renowned writers.

ALMEIDA GARRET

He was born in 1799 in Porto, at Rua Dr. Barbosa de Castro near Jardins da Cordoaria, in house no. 37-41, and lived there until the age of five, later moving to Vila Nova de Gaia.

In the middle of the first floor of the house, with 18th century characteristics, in an oval medallion in plaster, placed by the city hall in 1864, an inscription honors the memory of the author of “Viagens na Minha Terra”.

There are writer’s marks all over the city:

– Church of Santo Ildefonso, where Garrett was baptized in 1799;
– building of Colégio de S. Lourenço / Igreja dos Grilos na Sé, and improvised military regiment, where he took refuge during the siege of Porto, in 1832, and where he started the novel “O Arco de Sant ‘Ana: Porto chronicle”;

– Almeida Garret Square next to S. Bento station;

– He was one of the responsible for introducing the heart of D. Pedro in the coat of arms of the city of Porto;
– grave in his honor at the Lapa cemetery, although his remains are found in the Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon;

– since 1954, on the 1st centenary of his death, a bronze statue of him has a prominent place in front of the city hall of porto,

– in 2001, when Porto was European Capital of Culture, the Municipal Library in the gardens of the Palácio de Cristal was named Almeida Garret.

He is described as a petulant and vain dandy.

The fountain from the Jardim do Marquês has been at Praça D. João I before?
25 March, 2020 / ,

The fountain that is at the Jardim do Marquês already has a long history.  It was placed here in 2006, after the construction work of the garden, but it literally lit up the Praça D. João I for decades.

The Praça D. João I was only inaugurated in the 40s and with a very modern aura thanks to very tall buildings on its side that are still there to this day. At the time of its construction, one of them was the tallest building in the country. This new square, which served as a connection between the Rua Passos Manuel and the Avenida dos Aliados, built in a place where other buildings once existed, would come to receive outstanding decorative elements: the bronze sculptures “Os Corcéis” (The horses), which are still there, and the fonte luminosa, which has since moved location to the Marquês, despite having lost some of its original elements.

The fountain was placed at the center of the square and, besides having the compass rose drawn on the bottom; it would also light up during the night. It was located in a small roundabout with Portuguese pavement and bushes. At the time, cars and buses would circle around the square, which was surrounded by coffee shops and other commercial establishments that are nowadays entrances to the car park. The imposing fountain was ordered by the owner of an important real estate agency.

House of São Roque
25 March, 2020 / ,

The eastern part of the city of Porto has, over the last few years, been reborn almost from the ashes. In fact, a little marginalized when compared to other areas of the city, the eastern part has been the target of growing interest on the part of the new population that seeks to settle there and also on the part of the municipal management that has sought to encourage the rehabilitation of the city. zone. See, for example, the investment of Gardens and Urban Parks in the eastern zone and the partnership that resulted in the requalification of Casa de São Roque.

The latter deserves a special mention, and the attention of the dear reader!

Until recently, almost in ruins, the house was reborn as a result of an exquisite rehabilitation that restored its glamor and highlighted the architectural pearl it really is!

The house, also known as Palacete Ramos Pinto, is located in the Park of São Roque da Lameira, in the parish of Campanhã, and aims to be today a new cultural center of the city. The house will show the public a large part of the Peter Meeker / Pedro Álvares Ribeiro art collection, with the exhibition “Inventória” currently being exhibited, with works signed by Ana Jotta and curated by Barbara Piwowarska.

Historically, we have to go back to 1759, when, as part of Quinta da Lameira, the house functioned as a mansion and hunting lodge, as was typical in the bourgeoisie and noble families of Porto at the time. In the 19th century, it belonged to the family of Maria Virginia de Castro, who in 1888 married António Ramos Pinto, one of the best known producers and exporters of Port wine. It was he who promoted the first remodeling of the house to the architect José Marques da Silva (the same one who designed the São Bento station).

In 1979, the entire farm and house were acquired by the Porto City Council from the last owner, having preserved the furniture and the most important objects of the house (today in use in the Casa do Roseiral collection).

Casa São Roque is today a striking example of the houses of the time in Porto, due to its architectural and decorative characteristics, accompanied by its magnificent garden, in which we must highlight the beautiful camellias (which inspire a whole program in the city in the coming days 2 to 9 March), which also includes a guided visit to the centenary camellias of the Casa de São Roque on March 2 at 10:30 am with Professor Armando Oliveira.

The house is beautiful, the garden is magnificent, the exhibition is now clearly challenging – you will not give up your time if you give them a visit!

For more information and monitoring of the available offer, be sure to consult: https://www.casasroque.art/pt/

 

 

 

 

São Gonçalo de Amarante
16 December, 2019 / , ,

The Church, the Convent and the São Gonçalo Bridge, are the “ex libris” of the city of Amarante, inseparable from the figure that gives them the name. The myriad of legends and beliefs that gravitate around this place blur the reality at a crossroads of such cloudiness that throws us into the impossibility of accurately discerning where they end and the other begins. “Gonçalo was a saint, and an admirable saint, in the early age of a boy; holy and admirable in the second of the youth; holy, and admirable in the third of men; holy, and admirable in the quarter of old; and finally holy, and admirable, on the fifth after death ”(excerpt from a sermon by Father António Vieira in Brazil.

São Gonçalo de Amarante was born around 1190, in the parish of S. Salvador de Tagilde, in the municipality of Vizela, in a noble family (the Pereiras). Under the protection of the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Braga, Gonçalo attended ecclesiastical disciplines at the Cathedral School of the Archiepiscopal See, becoming ordained priest and appointed parish priest of the parish of S. Paio (or S. Pelagius) of Riba-Vizela. He first went on pilgrimage to Rome from where he went to Jerusalem, where he took 14 years, leaving the parishioners in the care of a nephew priest. Returning to Portugal, he is chased away by the same that through a plot would have been named like parish priest. Resigned, he leaves S. Paio de Riba-Vizela, joins the conventual life of the Order of Preachers, recently founded by S. Domingos, building a small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, on the banks of the River Tâmega. where today stands the São Gonçalo Church and Convent in Amarante. The process of beatification was promulgated on September 16, 1561. Devotion to the most popular saint of the Portuguese saints, after Saint Anthony of Lisbon, spread throughout Portugal and Brazil. In 1540 John III of Portugal and D. Catarina of Austria decided to build a new Dominican temple and convent on the site, under the invocation of Gonçalo de Amarante. The works began in 1543, extending to the eighteenth century, with interventions in the twentieth century.

São Gonçalo, in the sec. XIII, begins the construction of a crossing between the two banks (it is during this period that an immensity of legends appears). The bridge collapsed in the 18th century due to flooding and was later recovered. The famous defence of the Amarante Bridge took place in 1809 and was one of the most remarkable moments of the second French invasions. The heroic defence of the bridge, as the episode became known, came after French troops occupied the Church of São Gonçalo and were prevented from crossing the Tamega. More than 200 years have passed, but cannonball and musket marks still linger on the building’s facade.

Amadeo de Souza Cardoso
16 December, 2019 / ,

Amadeu de Souza-Cardozo (1887-1918), born in Manhufe, Amarante, attends Fine Arts in Lisbon and travels to Paris where he attends the Viti Academy of Anglada Caramassa, devoting himself entirely to painting. He became Friend of Modigliani, Brancusi, Archipenko, Juan Gris, Robert and Sonia Delauney. In 1912 he exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants and at the Salon d´Autonne. Exhibits some works at the Armory Show (USA) in 1913.

In 1914, he meets with his friends Gaudi and the sculptor Sola in Barcelona returning to Portugal that year due to the start of the war, settling in the farm in Manhufe with Lucia Pecetto with whom he later marries in Porto.

Dies in Espinho in October 1918, victim of the Spanish flu.

Amadeo de Souza-Cardozo, is the main reference of the museum to which it gives its name, located in a space of the building that housed the Dominican convent of S. Gonçalo de Amarante

Amor de Perdição – the tragic story of an impossible love
3 December, 2019 / ,

Amor de Perdição is a novel written by Camilo Castelo Branco, in 1862, which narrates the tragic story of young love.  The tale, based on true facts, was written when Camilo was imprisoned and living a forbidden love himself.

It is one of the most renowned romances in Portuguese literature. The book has already been translated into several languages and adapted to the cinema four times, including a version directed by the famed Manoel de Oliveira. Amor de Perdição is also the name of the street where the current Centro Português de Fotografia stands (Portuguese Photography Centre), and a former prison (Cadeia da Relação do Porto) where Camilo Castelo Branco wrote his most famous work whilst awaiting trial for adultery. The name of the street is thus a tribute to the illustrious book.

Camilo Castelo Branco had been accused with adultery: he fell in love with Ana Plácido; her husband found out and charged both lovers for adultery. Both were arrested, trialled and later acquitted. They later married, but didn’t live happily ever after. Camilo committed suicide in 1890 after living his last few years blind and disease-ridden. Whilst in prison, the writer found in the jail’s logs details for a story their family had once told him: of his uncle Simão Botelho, imprisoned and convicted to exile for murdering a rival in a love relationship.

From then on, Camilo wrote the story of Simão e Teresa, born into rival families from Viseu. A forbidden love, which resembles Romeo and Juliet, with an equally tragic ending. Teresa was to marry a cousin, Baltasar Coutinho, who she rejected due to her love for Simão. Hurt, Baltasar convinced her lover’s dad to send her to the Convento de Monchique, in Porto. Interestingly, the convent building is still there however very degraded.

Desperate, Simão awaited his rival outside the city of Viseu and shot and killed his rival. He turned himself in and was imprisoned at the Cadeia da Relação do Porto, until convicted of exile in India. On the way, and whilst sailing by the Convent, he was able to see the figure of his lover who died seconds later consumed by grief.  After Simão found out about Teresa’s death, he too died. Camilo’s uncle didn’t have such a tragic ending since he made it to exile where he lived until his death. But the story of the tragic love was forever perpetuated in the pages of the book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Eagle and the Lion
21 November, 2019 / , ,

A few years ago, walking along Avenida da Boavista accompanied by my two older nephews…

― Kids, who knows what is that up there?!

— It’s the Eagle and the Lion in Rotunda da Boavista (Boavista Roundabout)!

I smiled while thinking of how right – and also how wrong – the answer was.

The Monument to the Heroes of the Peninsular War was designed by architect Marques da Silva and sculptor Alves de Sousa. Its construction, under the responsibility of the Cooperativa dos Pedreiros, began in 1909, but the monument was only to be inaugurated in 1952, after the premature death of Alves de Sousa, so its completion was the responsibility of sculptors Henrique Moreira and José Sousa Caldas.

The monument is intended to honour the heroes of the Peninsular War, fought in the context of the French invasions, which opposed Portugal – helped by their ally England – to the French armies of Napoleon Bonaparte, in the period from 1808 to 1814.

My nephews didn’t know this part, but as their tender age did not recommend “wars”, I ended up explaining to them that there was a bit of a bad Frenchman who wanted only cheese to be eaten in Portugal! So, we asked our English friends for help and sent the French “to hell” with their cheese! At the time, I couldn’t think of any better nonsense explanation, but they retained the correct basic idea. I hope…

Composed of a pedestal 45 metres high and surrounded by sculptural groups that represent artillery scenes, the monument features a woman – Vitória – in front of the people, holding the national flag in her left hand and a sword in her right hand. At the top, a high column topped by a lion (symbol of the flag of England) over an eagle (symbol of Napoleon’s empire), elements that gave it the popular name for which it is known.

 

Apolo Terrasse – The forgotten movie theater
7 November, 2019 / , , ,

Few remember this movie theater, built at the beginning of the 20th century and demolished in the late 1940s to give way to the current Rua de Ceuta. The Apolo Terrasse came at a time when the cinema was gaining popularity.

At first, the films started out by being projected in shacks or in arge stores in the city, but, as the public’s interest increased and the film production
diversified, specific spaces for film viewing were built. Most of these places of entertainment are now just memories. One of them was the Apolo Terrasse, which was built in 1912. It was located where Rua de Ceuta is today and its main access was through Rua José Falcão. It had two more
entrances: one on the ground floor of a house in Rua de Santa Teresa and another through the middle of backyards that descended to Rua da Picaria. Despite its discreet location and decorative simplicity, the building stood out for its large, imposing iron structure, which served as a vestibule.

The Apolo Terrasse was also built so that it could be used for other types of shows and sporting events.
On the other hand, the two floor construction, connected by two staircases and lateral balconies, brought great concern due to fire prevention.
The lighting, made by globe-shaped lamps, was another element of modernity in this space.

Source: O Tripeiro, 7ª Série, Ano XXXV, Número 1,
janeiro e fevereiro de 2016.

Bust of Homage to Guilherme Gomes Fernandes
13 August, 2019 / , ,

By the author Bento Cândido da Silva, the bust of the Commander of the Firemen of Porto, Guilherme Gomes Fernandes, was inaugurated in 1915 in the square that has since adorned the name of this illustrious personage.

Guilherme Gomes Fernandes was born in Bahia on February 6, 1850. At the age of three he went to live in Porto and at thirteen he left for England with the intention of attending high school.

At the age of 19, Gomes Fernandes settled in the city of Porto. Years later, he helped found the Associação Humanitária dos Bombeiros Voluntários (1874-75) and the Corpo de Salvação Pública. He was appointed Commander of the Fire Department in 1877 and Inspector of Fire of Porto in 1885. He then transferred to Companhia de Incêndios, assuming the position of commander. He also developed business activity in the area of journalism, having created and directed the newspaper “O Bombeiro Voluntário”, published between 1877 and 1890.

Guilherme Gomes Fernandes was also notable, among other actions, in the fight against the tragic fire of the Baquet Theater in 1888.

His contribution to the progress of the firefighters in Porto and in the country earned him the title of “Master”, as well as prestigious national and international decorations.

Guilherme Gomes Fernandes died in Lisbon, Hospital of S. José, on October 31, 1902.