Lisbon exposed as the stage for revolutions (starting on Saturday)
The Portuguese capital has been the stage for revolutions throughout history, moments that have in common "the feeling of freedom" and that the Museu de Lisboa brings together in a single exhibition, to be inaugurated on Saturday.
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Cultura Museu de Lisboa
In a guided tour of the exhibition, still under construction, for Lusa, Joana Sousa Monteiro, director of the Lisbon Museum, highlights its "unprecedented" nature, in the sense that it is the first time that "almost all of the country's main moments of rupture and transformation" since the 14th century are being exhibited in the same space.
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"This is the Lisbon Museum's most important exhibition this year", due to its size, investment and research time (it started being prepared two years ago), but also because it marks the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April and will be open to the public until the beginning of next year.
"Lisbon in Revolution, 1383-1974" shows how "public space was appropriated and resymbolized with each change of regime and structural transformation", highlights the museologist.
Between history and the present, the Museum assumes the intention of reflecting on "what Lisbon is, what Lisbon was", who the people of Lisbon are, "the oldest and the youngest".
The exhibition -- which will be inaugurated on Saturday, at 5 pm, accompanied by a 'dj set' by the musician Luís Varatojo -- focuses on six periods of tension: 1383-85, 1640, 1820, 1836, 1910 and 1974, promoting "a reflection on the concept of revolution itself", summarizes Joana Sousa Monteiro.
"It is very funny, in addition to being curious and interesting, to see so many similarities that exist in all these periods", she points out, highlighting that there are always windows, balconies and towers in the mix.
Acknowledging that some historians do not place 1383-85 and 1840 in the traditional concept of revolution, the exhibition's curator, Daniel Alves, justifies that they are also moments of "desire to gain new rights, gain freedoms, or secure those that already existed".
The chosen revolutions are therefore united in the "feeling of freedom", whether for the right to independence in 1383 and 1640, for freedom of expression in 1820, for the reinforcement of popular sovereignty in 1838, to end the monarchical government in 1910 or for democracy in 1974.
The integrated researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History of NOVA FCSH highlights that, "whenever [...] there was a need to transform, things happened in Lisbon most of the time", noting that the Liberal Revolution of 1820 originated in Porto, but "would not have been what it was without what happens in Lisbon" afterwards.
The exhibition highlights the connection of revolutionary movements to certain "more prone" locations in the city, "Rossio, for example, appears in almost all revolutions", Carmo, Sé, Terreiro do Paço.
Lisbon "in many moments was a revolutionary city, because it was the capital of the kingdom and then of the country, because it concentrated an important strategic position" and, later, "because it consolidated itself as the main political, economic, social city", explains the specialist in 19th century History.
Right at the entrance, to confirm this, there will be a large map of Lisbon's "revolutionary geographies".
Joana Sousa Monteiro highlights the "many original pieces" that will be exhibited among the 135 from the Lisbon Museum's collection and the hundred from over 40 external institutions (national museums, archives and private collections).
With contents accessible to a wide audience (more developed in the catalogue), short texts (and bilingual, Portuguese and English) and multimedia formats, the exhibition starts from the places where things happened and from concrete characters to relate the events.
"It was important to bring some objects, another way of presenting, with interactive maps, small documentaries, which brings the younger audiences closer", says the curator.
With this in mind, the exhibition's route ends with a real ballot box, where there will be a ballot paper with questions about the reasons that justify a revolution.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a parallel programme, for schools, families and the general public, with shows, workshops, series of talks and conferences, guided tours and routes.
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