For more than two centuries, it served to control and keep out people. Now, the bicentennial door that, until 1959, stood imposingly at the access to the Sagres Fortress, is the entrance to the Exhibition Center of this national monument, which should be in operation in the first quarter of 2022.
This solid wood door, whose magnificence remains so many centuries later, is the first and, for now, the only piece in the future permanent exhibition of this new aspect of the Fortress of Sagres and the element that welcomes the space.
But if the history – in this case, the particular history of this door - were like that of so many other important heritage elements that were lost over time, the ceremony for placing the first piece in the Promontório de Sagres Exhibition Center, on Friday, the 26th, would not be the same.
“There is something that particularly caught my attention, which is the history of this door. It's because? Because I think it is an example that is worth highlighting», said Graça Fonseca, minister of Culture, who was in Sagres to visit the works of the future center and to make official the placement of the first piece.
“A contractor, who I don't know exactly who it was, felt that it was important to keep this object, at a time when he probably didn't know very well what he was saving. And here we are, next to an 1793th century door [XNUMX], with the importance it has, not only for the exhibition center, but also to tell the story of this monument», he added.
The episode to which the minister refers dates back to 1959, the year in which extensive works were carried out in the fortress.
During this intervention, the two-ton wooden door was ordered to be removed from the wall by the State, but the businessman who carried out the work did not throw it away. He kept it for decades and, at the end of the last century, returned it, relatively well preserved.
“This is very important, above all, because it conveys the message, which must be increasingly present, that taking care of our heritage is everyone's responsibility. And this door tells this story: that someone, one day, thought it was worth it and here we are today saying thank you, because the door was preserved and here it is exposed", added Graça Fonseca, who was accompanied on this visit by Ângela Ferreira, Assistant Secretary of State and Cultural Heritage.
As can be seen, in the future exhibition center, one will always enter with the “right foot”. But the reasons for interest are far from sticking with this piece and there are «many more» elements that make our mouths water, as explained by Adriana Nogueira, regional director of Culture in the Algarve, and Rui Parreira, director of services at Bens Culturais of DRCAlg.
«It will be a multimedia space, but not excessively, so that the exhibition cannot be seen without that dimension», began by explaining Adriana Nogueira.
As for the pieces that will be on display, the only one that belongs to the collection of the center is the XNUMXth century door. The rest of the exhibition will feature «borrowed original pieces», as well as «many images projected on the walls, photography, saints, etc., showing the occupation of this space, the Sagres Promontory, and also the saints, in this case São Vicente, how he was represented at various times. We are getting images from several places».
In the different cells, «a whole story about the journeys that the Portuguese made» is told, to underline the importance that the legendary School of Sagres and the action of Infante D. Henrique had in the Discoveries and everything that they entailed – and now it will be seen that it is even at all.
“This is a multi-sensory exhibition. There will be wind and light play. There is a room that will have three different colors and if no color is projected you will not notice what is written there, each color will highlight the message that is there. It's a story that is basically told in three phases», describes the regional director of Culture.
In another cell, there is the recreation of the Infante's workspace, «a small studio that is a fictional reproduction, what was imagined to be a reflection room at the time».
This medieval office will have «the maps that were known at the time and those that were also known, the very study that the Infante would have made».
Here, the team that conceived the exhibition gave free rein to its imagination, as it is not clear how Henrique lived during the time he lived in the Algarve, probably in Lagos.
But what is certain is that what we now call the Escola de Sagres «happened, someone thought and someone decided to go out into these seas. And you will see these maps, also of this world that, in the meantime, was reached by the Portuguese».
There will also be a representation of the hold of a nau, the ship used by the Portuguese in the heyday of the Discoveries. In the cell where this recreation is carried out, there is no reference to the transport of slaves. But this dark dimension of our history, that of slave ships and the slave trade, has not been forgotten. On the contrary.
The last niche before the final room is entirely dedicated to this theme.
«We are going to have a slave collar here, borrowed from the National Archeology Museum, because this is a reality that unfortunately happened. It is a reality that, unfortunately, still exists today, with another type of slave. But we have to assume it in its full dimension», stated Adriana Nogueira.
The experience ends in a room where a sphere will be installed, into which people will be invited to enter, to watch a film. "There will be audio guides so that people are not disturbed and people of different languages can hear the story as it is being told."
To get here, it was necessary to invest around 3 million euros, first in the construction and now in the musealization of this space located inside the Sagres Fortress, «so that those who come here, in addition to visiting the wall, have other elements of interpretation, which attract them to come back here, spread the word and bring more people”, as illustrated by Graça Fonseca.
“We really have to invest in our heritage, above all. This is an extraordinary anchor for us to bring more people and be able to project our heritage and, by the way, our country», concluded the Minister of Culture.
Adriana Nogueira took the opportunity to point out that, in addition to the permanent exhibition, the future center will have a “completely different” space, destined for temporary exhibitions, on the first floor.
«The first one we are planning will be contemporary art and will serve, precisely, to show that it will be completely different from this one», so that the visitor has one more reason to return to this monument.
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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