Faustina, wife of the powerful emperor Marco Aurelio, will be at the Museum of Portimão this afternoon to present the Roman coin “Aureus de Faustina”, which returns to the city 43 years after being discovered at the bottom of the Arade river.
It is a moment full of symbolism, scheduled for 17:00 this Saturday, which is part of the celebrations for the 5th anniversary of the Portimão Museum.
A coin was discovered in 1970, during the dredging to create a rotation basin for the ships that came to the port of Portimão, located in the estuary of the Arade river.
On October 23, 1970, the Diário de Noticias published the discovery “of two possibly Roman shipwrecks from the XNUMXnd century, in the port of Portimão” and, from the numerous traces brought to the surface, it highlighted fragments of pottery, metal pieces and a gold coin.
Shortly after its discovery, the coin minted between 152 and 156 of our era (15nd century) in honor of Faustina Junior, wife of Emperor Marco Aurélio, was handed over by the then Junta Autónoma dos Portos do Barlavento Algarvio, responsible for the works of dredging, in the custody of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, where it remained until about XNUMX days ago, when it was handed over to the Museum of Portimão, which will now present it to the public for the first time.
The return of the Roman gold coin to Portimão was decided by order of the Secretary of State for Culture, published in Diário da República on February 18th.
The coin will now be part of the permanent exhibition of the award-winning museum, which presents other pieces of great value from the Roman period, as well as some from other times, coming from successive archaeological campaigns or fortuitous finds in the Arade estuary.
Museum celebrates five years of opening
The Museum's 5th anniversary also includes the 13th Portimão Photographic Race, which takes place throughout the day, the inauguration of the exhibition “Creio”, and a very special “Saturday in the family”.
Considered the most important event of its kind south of the Tagus, the Photographic Race of Portimão will challenge, between 10:00 and 20:00, competitors to capture the geographical space of the municipality through their lenses, in a renewed and updated look at the aspects of its heritage cultural and natural, its people, activities and experiences.
Another highlight of the celebrations program is the inauguration of the sacred art exhibition of the Diocese of Algarve entitled "I believe", which resulted from a partnership between the Municipality of Portimão and the Parish of Matriz Portimão and which brings together for the first time a set of objects with enormous artistic and religious value. Bishop of the Algarve, D. Manuel Neto Quintas.
The exhibition features around 50 valuable pieces of art from various parishes in the Algarve, covering a period of 500 years, including oils on wood and canvas, pieces in gold, silver and ivory, polychrome clay, marble, upholstered and polychrome wood, velvet and silks embroidered, with origins as remote as India, Japan, Jordan or Persia.
This exhibition, which will be on display at the Portimão Museum until 15 September, is promoted with the aim of marking the Year of Faith and the Jubilee of the 25th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of D. Manuel Madureira Dias, Bishop Emeritus of the Algarve.
Also on this day, from 15:00 to 17:30, the small participants in the Saturday in Family Special They will have the help of a cannery, a prehistoric character and an archaeologist, and they will be an active part of the party, blowing out the candles on the birthday cake.
Inaugurated in 2008, the Portimão Museum received in 2010 the “Council of Europe Museum” award and the following year the “DASA – Mundo do Trabalho 2011” award, having also been distinguished with the “Turismo de Portugal” award in 2009 and with an honorable mention in the category “Best Portuguese Museum”, awarded in 2008 by the Associação Portuguesa de Museologia.
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