The Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe hosts the exhibition «Henrique, the Infante who changed the world», curated by João Paulo Oliveira e Costa.
The hermitage – the only example of Gothic architecture that survived centuries and centuries of earthquakes and other evils, of nature and men – deserves, in itself, a visit.
But the exhibition increases the interest of visiting this chapel, located almost on the edge of the EN125, near Raposeira and on the way to Vila do Bispo.
The hermitage is one of the monuments under the responsibility of the Regional Directorate of Culture and entry costs two euros, but the ticket also entitles you to enter the Fortaleza de Sagres.
The exhibition “Henrique, the Infante who changed the world” is very informative and appealing. Visitors can find out more details about the Infante's time, life and work through the iPads that are provided at the beginning of the visit (and which then have to be returned at the end…), which also contain the information translated into English.
The exhibition ends with a display of spices (cinnamon, pepper, turmeric, nutmeg and ginger) where visitors can literally dip their hands.
But beware: as stated in one of the exhibition's final texts, although Infante D. Henrique's work led to the opening of the sea route to India, and therefore to the rich spice trade, it was not during his lifetime that this happened.
But the fantastic smell of spices gives a different touch to close the exhibition dedicated to Henrique, the Navigator, the most outstanding prince of the Inclita Generation.
And why this exhibition precisely in the hermitage of Guadalupe? Because it was here that the Infante came to Mass, in those distant years at the end of the XNUMXth century, beginning of the XNUMXth century.
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