The Sagres Promontory already has a website, an application (app), beacons, a promotional film very aimed at young people and a new book about Infante D. Henrique, in four languages. All of this was launched last Friday, in Fortaleza, on the same occasion that the European Heritage Label plaque was unveiled.
The website, already available by clicking here, the app, connected to the system of beacons, to ensure the perfect navigation of visitors on the heritage and history of the Promontory of Sagres, a mythical place in the history of Portugal and the World, transport the most visited monument in the Algarve (more than 360 thousand visitors in 2015) and one of the favorites of the tourists at a national level, for the XNUMXst century, as Alexandra Gonçalves, regional director of Culture, said.
As for the book «Henrique, the precursor of globalization», written by historian, university professor (and novelist) João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, «one of the greatest connoisseurs of the figure of the Infante», it is published in four languages – Portuguese, French, English and German – and is intended to tell, in an «accurate but accessible» way, the story of the Infante de Sagres.
Rui Parreira, Services Director for Cultural Goods of the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve, highlighted the fact that Sagres is one of the few Portuguese places already classified as a European Heritage Label, in other words, as «one of the places that played a special role in the building Europe'.
«Sagres is Brand not so much because of what actually happened here, in reality it was just the place where Infante D. Henrique had his manor house and which he chose to die, but because it is a place of myths. The whole myth was created that Sagres would have been the center of the Discoveries and it is because of this more mythical than true role that Sagres is recognized as having an important role in the construction of Europe», explained Rui Parreira.
It is also in this context that the new book on the Infante appeared, to have «a work of dissemination, which was at the same time a reference».
João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, the historian responsible for the work, in a fascinating lecture that led the audience to discover some lesser-known – and even controversial – facets of the Infante, began by stressing that the book “demystifies much of what is told to purpose' of this unavoidable figure in the History of Portugal and the World.
“Five hundred years ago, Sagres was the end of the world, in front of us we had the Ocean Sea, which still didn't even have a name and which was frightening”, stressed the author. “What is extraordinary about Sagres is that the Lord of Viseu and Covilhã chooses this place, asks the crown to fix his village here, not just a village, but his house, in the Roman style”.
Introducing Infante D. Henrique as «a man who could be the bridge of negotiation for the family, a man of compromise, a soldier who always preferred negotiation to war», but also a «manipulator» and the «man who changes history from Portugal, Europe and the World», João Paulo Oliveira e Costa stressed that he is «the figure with all this versatility that I try to portray in this book. It is this Infante who, with this worldview and unique personality, died here on November 13, 1460».
Like the book, the website and the application (and everything related to it) are financed by an application from the Regional Directorate of Culture to community funds (PO Algarve, FEDER and Turismo de Portugal).
Ana Neves, from imagetic, who developed the entire technological component of the project, explained that «more than a website, it is an interactive platform», in fact an Integrated Digital Platform of the Sagres Promontory.
The project developed by Imagetic involved the creation of the website, of the application mobile devices (Android and iOS), and the activation and external interaction with geo-referenced content, through Ibeacons, small dots (the size of a coin and equipped with a battery that guarantees them autonomy for three to five years) placed throughout the fortress and the promontory, which send automatic notifications to those who downloaded the application and walk around the site, providing all the information about these points of interest.
The regional director of Culture stressed that “this system is already widely used in museums, but not really in outdoor spaces. In the Algarve, it is the first system of its kind».
To download the application, free of charge, just go to the new website of Promontório de Sagres, or to Google (for Android) or Apple stores, although, in the latter case, and for «strictly bureaucratic reasons», it is only expected that this week The app will be available.
As for the movie, «Discovering the Sagres Promontory», which can also be seen on the new Promontório website, made by the producer B'lizzard, bridges the gap between cutting-edge technologies developed and used by the Portuguese at the time of the Discoveries and today, in this history of globalization that began in the times of Infante D. Henrique. The film is geared towards «a young audience, which wants to attract more and more to the Fortress of Sagres», stressed Alexandra Gonçalves.
After the «world premiere of the film», spoken in Portuguese and subtitled in Spanish and English, the unveiling of the plaque of the European Heritage Label followed.
In this regard, in statements to the Sul Informação, the regional director of Culture recalled having been, last week, in Vienna, at the International Congress on Conservation, Safeguarding and Valorization of Historic Buildings, at the invitation of the organization, to present «the case of Sagres as an example of the importance of education for the safeguarding cultural heritage and community involvement, through DiVaM”, the program of events held throughout the year in the Algarve's monuments.
From the congress came the idea of creating an association of monuments that are a European Heritage Label and also launching a Day of Sites with that status, he revealed.
The international congress took place in the palace of Emperor Maximilian I in Vienna, also a European Heritage Label, just like Sagres. And Alexandra Gonçalves highlighted the fact that the Austrian emperor was “the great-nephew of Infante D. Henrique”, a coincidence that could give rise to common initiatives between the Algarve and Vienna. So there is money to guarantee the national counterpart for a joint application to the Creative Europe programme.
Watch here the new video «Discovering the Sagres Promontory:
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