The Christmas exhibition that traditionally takes place at the Belém National Palace is this year dedicated to the artistic treasures of Baixo Alentejo, an initiative of the Museum of the Presidency of the Republic and the Department of Historical and Artistic Heritage of the Diocese of Beja.
Under the title "And a Son was given to us", the exhibition presents almost a hundred works of art from museums, churches and private collections, allowing for an overview of the heritage wealth of the current territory of the diocese of Beja, the second most vast region of the country.
It is a journey in space but also in time, as it extends over a vast chronological arc, from the XNUMXth century to the present day, having as a guiding thread a central theme of the anthropology of the Sacred: the Incarnation.
A spiritual reality, but also profoundly human, here glossed by a remarkable set of artistic manifestations that include many pieces never before shown to the public – or never before taken out of their usual context.
According to José António Falcão, director of the Heritage Department of the Diocese of Beja and exhibition curator, this exhibition “gives primacy to the community experience of devotion to the God Child, a sign of the identity of a region that prides itself on its Christmas traditions, but proposes a broader reflection on the dialogue between culture and religion».
The sacred art of southern Alentejo has been, in recent decades, the target of a daring project to rescue it, in a difficult fight against abandonment and theft, but with proven evidence.
Today it is one of the most appreciated heritage values in the region and has even become a lever at the service of local development.
Among paintings, sculptures and the decorative arts, it is a bit of a synthesis of this work that is now being made known to the public in this Christmas exhibition at the Palácio de Belém.
A journey that goes from Adam and Eve (theme of a medieval dish for collecting alms) to the Annunciation of the angel to Mary, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and his childhood in Nazareth.
Thus, successive narratives are enunciated which, given the silence of the Gospels recognized by the Church, were largely developed by the other Gospels, the Apocrypha. Both are imbued with humanity, as can be seen in a Virgin in Majesty, from the Romanesque period, or in a Nativity “to the profane”, designed by Jorge Vieira in 1962.
The mysterious aura that surrounds the Word made flesh is very present in Alentejo Gothic imagery, but also in magnificent Renaissance and Mannerism panels, such as those by Jean Bellegambe or Francisco de Campos that are preserved in the museums of Beja and Santiago do Cacém. It then finds new light in the eyes of a modern-day Bejenese painter: António Paizana.
The exhibition «And a Son was given to us – Iconography of the Child of God in Southern Alentejo» will be inaugurated by the President of the Republic Aníbal Cavaco Silva, on the 14th of December, and may be visited until the 14th of January.
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