A sculpture in honor of the ameixialense José Rosa Madeira will be inaugurated on Saturday, June 16, at 14 pm, with the presence of the Minister of Culture Luís Filipe Castro Mendes, grandson of the honoree.
José Rosa Madeira (1890-1941), «active man of culture, foresaw the excellence of the poet António Aleixo, anticipated the richness of photography to record memories and understood the importance of archeology for the knowledge of our past», stresses the Câmara de Loulé .
Born in 1890 in the village of Ameixial, José Rosa Madeira carried out his professional activity as a watchmaker in Loulé, but it was in the mountain village that he crossed passionately with archeology, contributing to the collection, preservation and investigation of objects and archaeological finds ranging from recent prehistory to modern times (in addition to some ethnographic pieces and “works” of nature).
It was in this context that «donated many of the archaeological pieces he collected to Museums, where an important group of stelae with writing from the Southwest of the Iron Age stands out, the first form of writing in the Iberian Peninsula, around 2500 years old and still to be deciphered today».
Delivered to the Municipal Museum of Faro after his death, his collection, with more than 90 pieces, is considered one of the most important collections in this museum unit, reflecting the seasons that this enthusiast spent in Ameixial and in the “serra”.
Those pieces can now be seen in the archeology exhibition: “LOULÉ. Territories, Memories, Identities” in Lisbon, in a joint initiative of the National Archeology and Municipal Museums of Loulé.
The sculptural project by artist Miguel Cheta, in Corten steel, «reveals this multiplicity of interests through a biographical text that also serves as an outline of the profile of the person being honored as a more conceptual and less formal idea of a bust».
The text in the sculpture presents itself «in an enveloping and delicate way, allowing the viewer to enjoy the landscape and observe its constant metamorphosis in its direct relationship with time».
The sculpture is part of the set of artistic interventions in public spaces that have been carried out in Ameixial, in what can be called a “gallery” project in the territory, where the creation of artistic heritage is made from local archaeological heritage – having already parts of plastic artists Sara Navarro e Leonor Pego, held within the scope of the Walking Festival Ameixial.
This piece also joins the set of actions that the municipality has been promoting for local development and enhancement of the Cultural Heritage of the interior of the municipality of Loulé, such as the walking festival initiatives of the Walking Festival Ameixial, an initiative of the QRER cooperative, and the future valorization of the archaeological sites of writing in the Southwest and in the Antas do Ameixial.
«The well-deserved tribute to José Rosa Madeira in his homeland thus recognizes his love for his land, his passion for his mountainous origins and his attraction to the passage of time, making him a unique man to whom the country owes part of ours. history and identity», adds the Chamber of Loulé.
In addition to the Minister of Culture, the inauguration will be attended by Vítor Aleixo, Mayor of Loulé, Vitor Aleixo, José Carrusca, President of the Parish Council of Ameixial, and artist Miguel Cheta.
Comments