“There are thousands of people watching you. You made a difference and are present there, as real people of flesh and blood. They made the exhibition richer». That is how António Carvalho, director of the National Archeology Museum, addressed the donors and guardians of the Heritage of Loulé in the tribute paid to them this Saturday, 29 September.
The emotional ceremony served to honor these “exceptional Loulés”, as Vítor Aleixo, mayor of Loulé, called them.
There were only 13 in honor of the tribute, but there are more than 40 people who either donated archaeological pieces to the Municipal Museum of Loulé or, for example, allowed archaeological work to be carried out on their land. Therefore, they are donors and guardians of the heritage of the largest municipality in the Algarve.
Anyone who wants to see some of these pieces can go to the award-winning exhibition “LOULÉ. Territories. Memoirs. Identities”, on display at the National Archeology Museum, in Lisbon.
There, in addition to the finds, there is a module, precisely called “Identities”, where photos of these Louletians are shown, which, for the director of the main archeology museum in Portugal, is essential.
“People look and realize that there is a human side there, palpable. In many archeology exhibitions, the public does not know who collected the piece: if they were curious, if archaeologists. lost to biography of the object, but not in our exhibition. People are present, in a concrete way, and make a difference», said António Carvalho.
This module “Identities”, revealed the director of the National Museum of Archeology, was not even planned at the beginning. Its existence is due to two people: Dália Paulo, municipal director of the Câmara de Loulé, and Pedro Barros, archaeologist and author of the photographs.
«Without this dimension, the exhibition would have been poorer, more predictable and ours is absolutely unpredictable», acknowledged António Carvalho.
And what was the concrete contribution of these guardians and donors? There were those who had discovered fragments of amphorae, others found stelae from the Southwestern Script, for example. João Carlos Santos, one of the honorees, from Quarteira, revealed to the Sul Informação that, in the Loulé Velho beach area, he discovered a bronze object from the Roman period, which he promptly donated to the museum in his municipality.
For Vítor Aleixo, the success of the exhibition on display in Lisbon «also owes» to these guardians and donors.
“With their generosity, they helped us to preserve and bequeath our cultural heritage to future generations. Sometimes, people, in their simplicity, are not aware of the importance of what they have done, but that is an extraordinary attitude», he said.
Therefore, for the mayor, this was a "very fair tribute", because all the guardians and donors "provided a great service to the community".
Speaking of the “LOULÉ. Territories. Memoirs. Identities”, Aleixo considered it to be the “greatest achievement” since he has been mayor, because he is leaving an “identity mark on the people of Loulé”.
This exhibition, said António Carvalho, is a kind of «archaeological Portugal in miniature». Traversing 7 years of the municipality's history, it reveals secrets of places such as the historic center of Loulé, Cerro da Vila, in Vilamoura, the Castle of Salir or the enigmatic writing of the Southwest.
The exhibition, on display at the National Archeology Museum, in Lisbon, has already been seen by more than 230 thousand people, figures that were praised by António Carvalho.
“The exhibition is a unique and sublime moment that will never be repeated. We had unique conditions and a fantastic team», he said, with pride.
The success of this exhibition is such that, at a time when visits to the Jerónimos Monastery dropped, entries to the National Archeology Museum, which is autonomous despite being located in the west wing of Jerónimos, increased by 14,1%, according to data revealed by its director.
These numbers are also due to the success of an exhibition that talks about the heritage of Loulé, "a dynamic resource" that "has to be well treated" because "it enhances the territory", considered Vítor Aleixo.
This is what these more than forty Loulés did, over the decades, who, as recognition, received a small souvenir, in clay and wood, with such an appropriate block by António Aleixo:
the world can only be better
better than so far
when you can do
More for others than for you
Photos: Pedro Lemos | Sul Informação
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