The only two groups of friends from Museums that exist in the Algarve met yesterday, for the first time. O Group of Friends of the Portimão Museum he visited São Brás de Alportel at the invitation of the Friends of the Museu do Trajo and it was a journey full of emotions.
The morning was dedicated to the Algarve's cork industrial heritage, on a visit guided by the Group of Friends of the Museum of São Brás, to a cork factory for closer contact with the 1st phase of the transformation of this raw material.
After lunch – at Adega Nunes – there was a cultural tour of the village, guided by Emanuel Sancho, director of the Museu do Trajo. The tour through the streets and through the history of São Brás ended at the Museum itself, where the group of fifty people heard the history of the building, which dates back about a century, and then visited the exhibition «The Gears of Time».
This exhibition, still part of the 100 years of the municipality of São Brás de Alportel, speaks of a period of three decades, from the beginning of the 1930th century to the XNUMXs. Guerra, in fact, remembered in an extensive and immersive part of the exhibition.
Emanuel Sancho recalled that the Museu do Trajo is owned by the Misericórdia de São Brás, which guarantees the minimum resources for the existence of the space (namely by paying three employees, the director, the receptionist and the person in charge of maintenance). But a large part of the dynamism of the small, but tough museological structure is due to the support and work of volunteers from the Group of Friends of the Museums of São Brás.
After the visit, “A Conversation with Friends” followed. Between tea and cookies, it was an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the members of the Group of Friends of the Museums of São Brás and Portimão. But also to listen to the music that the young Portuguese accordionist Daniel and the English flutist Paul had to offer their guests, a living example of what this museum and its group of friends are all about.
As Vânia Mendonça, from the Friends of the Museu do Trajo de São Brás group, pointed out, this group is «a space open to communities, to ideas, to what people would like to see in their museum».
«11 percent of the population of the municipality of São Brás are foreigners, who find in the Museum their meeting point and a place to integrate». The group has 1000 members (not all with up to date fees…), from 20 nationalities (including the Portuguese, of course), residing in São Brás and in the surrounding municipalities.
Cliff Newton, president of the Group of Friends of the Museum of São Brás, said, in turn, that «as resident foreigners, it is very good to be able to collaborate with a Portuguese structure» and even «give something back to the community where we choose to live always or in part time».
The Museum of São Brás hosts and promotes activities as varied as regular concerts, exhibitions, choral (multinational) or theater rehearsals (with plays in several languages), or even musical groups, ateliers, yoga and tai-chi classes , embroidery group, a library with donated books, in four languages.
Daniel Cartucho, president of the Group of Friends of the Portimão Museum, expressed his admiration for the work of his colleagues from São Brás and hoped that, soon, not only would the visit be reciprocated, but that there could be more collaboration between both groups.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues and José Gameiro
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