This is where musicians, fishermen, bank workers, canners, shoe shiners, carnival revelers, conductors, booksellers, merchants, telephone operators, street vendors, singers, poets, painters, photographers, farmers, artisans, industrialists, workers and tourists have crossed paths.
From the 7th to the 27th of August, the square now called Manuel Teixeira Gomes, in the riverside area of Portimão, receives an original outdoor exhibition, which invites you to wander through the history and memories of this emblematic space in the city's riverside area.
This is the exhibition «Praça Manuel Teixeira Gomes – Walking through History», promoted by the Group of Friends of the Portimão Museum and by the Parish Council of Portimão, in close collaboration with the Museum and the Municipality of Portimão, to open on the 7th of August, at 19 pm.
On that occasion, there will be music with the band of Sociedade Filarmónica Portimonense, in a way to remember the old Philharmonic of Portimão, popularly known by the band of “Paga-Zé”, which, in July 1925, would inaugurate the old bandstand.
On 10 metal panels and 20 large photographs, visitors who wander around, between an ice cream and a coffee, will be surprised by this unexpected encounter with the images that mark the evolution of the most dynamic space on the Portimão riverfront.
As a public space, this square has always been a place of intense meeting and social exchange, around which, in its cafes, shops, terraces, bank and shipping agencies, post office, clubs and communities, garden, cinemas and bandstand, vans, buses and taxis, the most relevant economic, political, sporting and cultural decisions were taken.
After the Praça Manuel Teixeira Gomes, the initiative «Walking through History» may, in the future, tour other emblematic spaces in Portimão, making known its histories, memories and urban transformations.
Manuel Teixeira Gomes Square, formerly known as Visconde de Bivar, has its current name in honor of the illustrious Porto native who stood out as a traveler, writer, art collector, diplomat and President of the Portuguese Republic (1923-1925) and who was responsible for elevation to the city of the former Vila Nova de Portimão, on December 11, 1924.
“Walking through History” is a proposal that also aims to “strengthen the identity of the community, enhance the city and the Municipality, as a cultural and leisure destination, both for its inhabitants and for its visitors and tourists, a relaxed journey in time, between memories and social experiences resulting from a maritime, rural, industrial and commercial geography that has historically characterized this Municipality».
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