Portugal and its early architecture also on facebook portucuriosities

Since the arrival of the Romans, the architecture in the Iberian peninsula changed for the better in regards to the construction of roads, bridges, amphitheaters , and all sorts of buildings that would give support to close villages. Portugal was not yet a nation ,but became LUXITANIA ,,the most western Roman territory .Actually our famous lime stone  pavements are clearly a major roman influence. Was there a gap in between periods…?or…it always existed since then…..?Probably always existed but, shaped differently  and not applied all over the territory . More cities , more people, more pavements, different techniques, makes sense i guess..

Later on, at viii century, the Muslims invaded the same territory then to be called El- Andaluz .Roman architecture was gone by then , after a period of barbarian invasions.Churches where to be built now to whore ship  the new implemented christian religion coinciding with the Crusades  coming from the north.At the same time , the Muslims brought a new breath to the civil, military and religious architecture, also building palaces and mosques and organizing the cities-villages. They where extremely advanced on maths, geometry, and great thinkers and philosophers as well. The predominant colour on the buildings was white which is something that still prevails today mostly at the southern territory. People still paint the outside of their houses using a sort of lime stone paste often used because of heat, and as an anti fungus-bacteria protecting layer.Unfortunately its hard to find any clear evidence of moresque buildings in our territory, unless they are NEO arab, meaning that they were built in the xix or early xx century as sort of revivalism.

 

 

The Romanesque architecture comes along with the formation of Portugale as an independent nation. Henry of Borgonhe, ruler of  Portugale had an important role defending the county of Portugale from morish invadors, and, as that happens, supported by the religious military and non military orders, he Henry of Bourgogne starts to implement the french Romanesque architecture,in order to convert the population to Christianity.

 

Romanesque churches where more militarized than the ones in all the rest of Europe .They looked like a fort giving the impression that there was something to defend on the inside.Not to many windows and with very thick walls. Defending what….or who…or defending themselves from the moors maybe.Naturally you wont see these cathedrals at the southern region of Portugal ,unless you go to Evora.The reconquista ,like I said before, started  in the north reclaiming territory until they (Crusades, Knights of templar and other religious military orders)got to  Lisboa. Muslims stayed longer at the southern parts of what is now Portugal.

Another detail that i find curious in regards to arquitecture ,is that Romanesque french churches ,one way or another ,where built always facing east….Jerusalem..

1-The front arch-door facing West or the feet, and the head, or the Priest ,facing east. In a certain given period the  priest used to start the mess with the population on his back with his arms open .Afterall ,Christ was/is expected to return from the rising sun….Sunday…

2- The front arch-door facing East and the back of the church facing West. I would say …..RESURREcTION… Judgment day…When resurrected, the spirit would get out of the body facing Jerusalem…But that s …just me..

Gotic versus Romanesque

Then we The opposition between the Romanesque and the Gothic reflects the opposition between two conceptions of life. Between the Romanesque and the Gothic there are common elements that take different forms, reflecting the evolution of Man’s attitude towards life. Thus, Romanesque architecture presents a submission to laws and order, visible mainly in its geometric construction, while Gothic architecture follows the logic of life: the facade is lighter and full of movement. In Gothic, almost everything is new: the structure of the building, the inspiration, the decoration. The ribbed vault allows the weight to be distributed among the supporting columns, freeing the walls. These become thinner, but taller , and can be torn with large openings, which will be decorated with stained glass – windows and rosettes. In contrast to the Romanesque churches “clinging to the earth”, the Gothic churches appear elevated, towards the sky, which demonstrates well the modifications of Man’s attitudes towards the Church and towards the World. The decorative forms are multiple, constituting an authentic book of images, made in stone, that tells the story of a religion. Upon entering the church, the believer finds scenes on the facade of the life of Christ, the Saints, the Old and New Testaments, who welcomed him and prepared him for the act he was going to attend.

 

The republic, 5th October. Also on facebook Portucuriosities

So i have chosen this particular day, the 5th of October to give you a light view over the implementation of the republic in Portugal in 1910. The republican party organizes a revolution upon which they overcome the monarchy. They ….Republicans…Free-masons… were not happy with the poor  mentality  , subjugation by the British empire, catholic church overpowering, royal family over spending etc….These were some of the reasons why the republicans took over power initiating an all new system for the nation, changing the flag, the national anthem and replacing coin.

We must go back 2 years to 1908, when the king D.Carlos was murdered at commerce square, while he was coming back from the countryside with his 2 sons and his wife. The oldest son after the shooting, was king for 20 min before diying,  since his father had immediate death with a bullet on his neck . The youngest, D.Manuel, survived  the attack, protected by his mother Queen Amélia .Later on, Manuel would be proclaimed king and then to be exiled in…England . He was too young, and because of his inexperience the monarch parties started to engage into fights getting weak as time went by until 1910, when the republicans stronger than ever initiate the revolution that would enable them to stay in power .It was not easy after, since the nation had 23 different governments from 1911 to 1920.

The national anthem was chosen by the republicans off course and, originally it was a song composed as an act of intervention against the British empire.There was a particular verse that clearly shows the intention..

“Against the canons..” was originally..”against the British we march..”

The assassins for the king and his son were killed in the spot by the national guard still on duty these days..The assassins,a  journalist and a teacher members of the well known anarch portuguese cell , THE CARBONARIA. A sort of militia, originally formed in Italy. .For me its clear that they were an armed faction for the republicans …I ve explained on a previous article that the Portuguese flag is very similar with the carbonaria flag …2+2=4…Our flag is a free mason flag and we have an all seeing eye within a triangle on the top of a hill called “the wounds of Christ”..I find that very interesting. Plus, since the arches of commerce square symbolically stand for the tarot pack of cards or the arcanes, and, the murderers were in a quiosque waiting for the king to pass by..I wonder if the arch next to the carriage in the moment of the attack could be the card of death…..??

The statue of the Christ Cristo Rei, also on facebook portucuriosities

So if you ever got the chance to visit Lisboa , i think….probably… you have seen a big statue on the other side of the river . The Christ  with open arms embracing the City. Some  people  don t see it….Too much of distractions maybe..after all it is ONLY 110 meters high….

So just to make it clear, this art deco masterpiece is not a copy of the Brazilian Christ at Rio de Janeiro. I guess 38 meters are not the same as 110 meters. To make it clear, there are 6 Portuguese speaking Christs. The one that i ve just mentioned , in Almada ,and, there is another one at Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, 300 km from Lisbon to the north, actually a few years older and located even higher than the Brazilian Christ, at the top of a mountain 1000 meters above the sea .

There is another Portuguese speaking Christ , this one in Madeira island,  and it is much older than the previous three that i mentioned above. It was finished   in 1927 and coincidentally,in  the same year  pope Bento xvi was born.

So,  two more Portuguese speaking Christs, in Angola, and, East Timor, why not….  Brothers in language share the same devotion.

The story behind the construction of the Lisbons-Almada Christ is simple. After an official visit to Brazil in the early 30s, the Portuguese Cardinal decides that the capital of Portugal MUST HAVE an Artdeco devotional statue as well. In my opinion the use of the same language and same religious devotion, suggested that idea. After all, Rio was the capital of Portugal back in the 18 hundreds so why not complete the game….But…still…isn’t that ironic … We the Portuguese colonized  Brazil bringing Catholic religion to the local  tribes, using the Cross and… Christ, and, a few Centuries after, the Capital of Portugal through the same Church, wants to follow the ex Colony….Isn’t that strange…Its called an inversion…

That same inversion was not easy to be accomplished because the nation was having a dictatorship, and i guess financially everything related with  state investment was pretty much under strict supervision by Salazar, although the Church Community agreed upon the construction of the monument.

So the Church through its  representatives makes a promise. IF PORTUGAL DOES NOT PARTICIPATE ON THE UPCOMING WORLD WAR WE WILL BUILD A MONUMENT TO HOMAGE THAT, AND SO IT HAPPENED…..Portugal was neutral during the second world war ironically because of Salazar leading a diplomatic strategy for the nation.

During several years children were asked to refuse gifts during Christmas period , donating those same gifts to the local churches in order to gather money for the big upcoming project. A symbolic contribution was made as the project started in 1949.

On 1959, with 40.000 tons of concret  and more than 100.000 eur donated by the congregation, the monument is inaugurated with 300.000 people present in a big ceremony.The so called homage to peace and love was finished.

 

The myth of the seven hills in Lisboa also on facebook portucuriosities

The legend tells us that long time ago there was a kingdom called Ofiussa , The SERPENTS KINGDOM, on which Ulisses came across with, and decided to station his boats and his men coming from TROY. The serpents had a Queen half woman half reptile. She often tried to seduce Ulisses, but invariably he would not accept her charming invitations. Ulisses was focused on building a city that later on during the Roman Empire, would be known as ULISSIPO . After the job was done, he escaped with out telling the Queen. She was caught by surprise and really mad ABOUT IT. So as so, that she  was desperately following the ship, zigue zaging on land, and shaping the HILLS with her long rounded tail.

The oldest description known  about  Lisboa hills, is dated from 1620, called THE GRANDEUR OF Lisbon, written by a monk frey Nicolau de Oliveira. He described it  accuratelly but most importantly , explaining the perspective of the hills, meaning that, for those coming from the sea and river,  would be easier to acknowledge the existence of hills. Whereas today unless you know the city, its quite hard to define where are these 7 named hills, because at least three of them are literally in the same area, but they overcome one another with different heights, that seem irrelevant, but in those days it was quite easy to differentiate it,due to the fact that mobility was not as easy as it is today.

So based on a sense of perspective and popular folk legends  the concept of the seven hills arises.

Also, this book that i previously mentioned along with others,  is coincident with the period of Spanish domination . We had  Filipes family running the country during 60 years.What i want to say is that there was some sort of propaganda going on, using literature in order to convince the Spanish king to settle in Lisbon, and not Madrid.Lisbon was also described as a caput Orbis, or, the capital of the world, the head of Europa,  the head of the fifth empire, a widely explored theory throughout ages by philosophers and thinkers.Not to mention the 7 celestial points of Jerusalem, following Rome or Constantinople. The so called Translatus Imperius…Empires from East to West..

Every single hill has a religious name which are,

Saint Jorge hill, Saint Vicente, Saint André, Sant Anna, San Roque, wounds of Christ hill, and, Saint Catarina .

Another perspective that i find interesting is that the earthquakes in 1531 and 1755  altered the shape of the region and consequently the city .

 

In reality today, there are more than 7 hills because the city expanded throughout time.

So if we think about the seven hills description like in the xv century,we will be likely reducing the  city dimension culturally or even  technologically .

Perspective….

Weird street names in Lisboa- Also on faCebook PortuCuriosities

So sometimes i come across these very but very weird street names in Lisboa. I guess those guys that named the streets they weren’t quite sure what to do..Actually you can do a tour on street art but also you can do a tour to contemplate street names as a form of art….?

So this one kind of blows my mind away…Especially when i do the translation live in front of a group of tourists..

1-JARDIM DAS PIcHAS MURcHAS

in english…. Garden of the  WITHERED DIcKS…..LOOOOOOOOOOOL

It has to do with the elderly men that used to seat there during the afternoon…Doing nothing…Apparently there was a guy called mr Vinegar ,  pavement worker , that started doing jokes about it each time  he was passing by…

2- EScADINHAS DA PORTA DO cARRO- In english..SMALL STEPS FROM THE cAR DOOR..

Amazing ….A car door that fell down the stairs..???..We could do a movie out of this script..So this is a very narrow street with a lot of steps leading straight to the Saint Joseph hospital..

3- This one is incredible … RUA DO BOQUEIRÃO DA PONTA DA LAMA

or in english…BIG MOUTH EDGE OF THE MUD STREET…Isn’t that wonderful…?

Maybe there was some kind of a larger area of the street with a shape of a mouth with mud all the time….loooooooool. Normally this name Boqueirão or big mouth was used for streets ending up in the river..

4- Another one also very interesting… RUA cÂMARA PESTANA

Translation in english…. EYE LASHES cHAMBERS STREET…..incredible…

Actually both names can be family surnames…So in this case we can easily see that the street was named homaging an important family… In Portugal , these kind of family surnames are from rich people…But they would never imagine that i would translate this and put it on line…

5- This one has a logical reason for the name but…still…the translation …its FUNNY AS HELL.

Here it goes….BEcO DO SURRA  and in english goes for SPANKING HALEY …WOW….

So back in the old days there was a lot of people there in Alfama district working on leather. So in order to stretch it , they, would have to whip it out with a stick.

SURRAR ..in portuguese..Brazilians use this word referring to someone that was beaten up …

 

 

Fernando Pessoa, go to facebook/portucuriosities

So ….This gentleman born in 1888 on the 13th of June, in my opinion was..still is…one of the most interesting AND ENIGMATIc portuguese off all time in regards to the creative writing through poems, thoughts, or…simply expressing himself using a pencil ,giving us his own particular  vision of the world and the misteries of life and the human being above all.

It is also important to mention that he created about 72 different imaginary writers-authors that would sign his texts with different literary characteristics common to each single one of them…Isn’t that incredible.. How difficult it can be to act writing through 72 different literary  styles, plus…..Standing on the balcony in a cafe.

Interestingly enough , his first book is written in English, because he  grew up mostly in South Africa in Durban, being educated on a Irish catholic college, and naturally, he adopts  English as his own language as well .

In Portugal he was not only a writer-poet , but also expert on translating, advertising,astrology, filosofie, journalist ..you name it…An incredible human  being with a sensibility beyond  the mortals. He considered himself as a cristian gnostic, naturally oposed to every single organized cult like the roman catholic church for example.

He was born in Lisbon in front of one of the most emblematic theaters of that period. Interestingly he is born on the exact same day as ST Anthony, the 13th of June. That is the reason why his mother gave him the name Fernando.As i mentioned before on a previous article , the real name of Santo Antonio was Fernando. That’s it..Did he, PESSOA became a sAINT….almost…i would say.

Here’s some of my favourite quotes of his creation

–The poet is a pretender

Pretends so completely

Who even pretends to be pain

The pain that he really feels.

renunciation is liberation,
not wanting ..Is power

To dominate others is to need others…The boss is dependent..

Man his as big as his dream…

For those who had the opportunity to visit Lisbon i guess you may have seen a statue seated outside of a café at Garret street. Its Mister Fernando Pessoa on his daily routine ,writing, drinking, smoking… A LOT….He died at the age of 45 on 1935, apparently DIAGNOSED WITH LIVER cIRRHOSIS…Until today no one knows for sure…

Coca-Cola's first ad in Portugal,
more than 40 years after its launch in the united States, 
was created by the poet Fernando Pessoa, 
but ended up being only on paper for political reasons.

In an attempt to extend the market of Coca-Cola to Portugal,
 the brand commissioned an advertising campaign in 1929 to the agency Hora,
 where the poet Fernando Pessoa worked as a free lancer.

So the slogan was magical , AND  only a genius would remember to write this-

AT the 1ST DAY ITS WEIRD.. BUT ON THE 5TH DAY IT GETS INSIDE US..

Has you can imagine this slogan made during a dictatorship would never work.. coca…drugs,white powder….cola…glue …. WWOOOWW….!!!

Fernando Pessoa was considered by the western scholars one of the most influential personalities of all time , amongst other 50, like Mozart , or Einstein.He is the most translated portuguese poet of all.

Imagine that you had an appointment with him ,and he shows up delayed saying…Sorry about this but…Mister Fernando couldn’t come and i had to come in his place. My names Alvaro-( heteronymous) ..How do you do… IT HAPPENED….

 

 

The knight templars cross, also on facebook portucuriosities

So Portugal is without a doubt a Knight templars nation, and, i believe if they weren’t  been here ,we, the Portuguese would be Spanish for sure.

So one of the major prove lies on a cross , the big red cross . Have you ever seen the portuguese football shirts..??.or ….paintings from the portuguese sailing boats during the maritime discovery period?? ..There you go..

But the cross suffered some subtil changes regarding the shape and design, since king DOM Dinis invoqued and ordered THE FORMATION OF  a new religious order called THE MILITARY ORDER OF chRIST, in 1319. This order was the continuity of the extinguished  Knight Templars of course. Under a different name would be easier to get financial benefits from the pope himself.

So the red color stands for the blood of christ , and miracles have always been acknowledged when evoquing the cross throughout the history. According to some historians the red colour might have to do with the holly graal. They defend that the word GRAAL derives from SANGRAAL ,in portuguese goes for SANGUE REAL OR …ROYAL BLOOD. I find that very interesting.

So the original cross was created according to Saint Bernard of cLAIRVAUX , one of the most important figures regarding the Knights of templar formation  back in Jerusalem .He was their spiritual guru. The cross was more rounded and based on a circled shape.This can be seen as a representation of the seed of life itself. Amongst other different meanings of course. Symbols have a presence , energy ,symbols send messages.

On the other hand , the new cross, of the ORDER OF cHRIST, also known as the cross of PORTU-GRAAL… is based up on the Saint Benedith RULE, and also evolved into a different shape regarding the tips of the cross. Triangled shaped representing the holy trinity. FATHER, SON, ESPIRITO SANcTUS.This is the actual cross stamped on the national portuguese football shirts. Interestingly enough the Knights of templar settled in Scotland as well. So guess what…. Scotland , Portugal and Jerusalem… We have a perfect triangle.

Santo Antonio , also on Portucuriosities/ facebook

 

So in Lisboa  St Antonio is for sure the most famous religious icons of all. He was born in Lisboa around 1195… no one knows for sure, having been baptized in the oldest lisbon’s cathedral under the name of Fernando de Bulhões . The reason why he changed the name has got to do with his devotion to the religious life with Francisco de Assis at the franciscanos order in Sicily.They were felowmates. Also he moved to Padua in Italy where he died later on, not too far from the city in Forcella, after coming back from teaching at universities in France during a long period of time. Unlike in other countries, he is mostly known here in Portugal as the weddings saint patron ,celebrated on the 12th of  June . Its the day of the brides of St Antonio,with a lot of couples getting married at the same time in Lisbon’s cathedral. Although St Antonios procession has been practiced for ages, the brides one ,started in the 50s xx century,  with the collaboration of some newspapers and the city mayor trying to bring couples financially struggling which is not the case these days….

Santo Antonio is known by hes speech abilities including addressing himself to fishes in Rimini Italy!!!Or for example, one of his numerous miracles after he died, the lady that wanted to get married and couldn’t make it happen.After praying to the saint for so many times she got out of control and throws St Antonios statue out of the window that landed on a young mans head…You can guess what comes next….Don’t try that at home please…

St Antonio was the fastest saint to be canonized throughout the entire catholic church history. He was named saint less than a year after his death .Also he was considered one of the biggest religious teachers and prayer of all time during the entire history of the roman catholic church.

 

Portugal’s horoscope ,wordpress portucuriosities also on facebook

Several different authors have adapted  the name LUX-light cITANIA- nation, meaning Luxcitania, Lusitania, or the nation of light  for Portugal. And this is correlated with the arcane 17, the protector of the nation, in the tarot cards, the STAR or the card of HOPE.Besides that, in numerology 1 plus 7 gives us 8, wich by the way represents the card of justice impersonated by the arcane  MIcKAEL, the guardian of the nation. Those  born in Portugal it is by mission or by  punishment…..to Serve the humanity or  to suffer with humanity..

The famous and super visionary poet Fernando Pessoa,also an  astrologist,  completed Portugal’s horoscope starting on the 24th june of 1128 , the day when our future first KING Afonso Henriques,fought  against his own mother . So from 1128 till 1978 we have 850 years, meaning , 17 cycles of 50 years. In 1920, Pessoa claimed that Portugal would suffer from a lunar cycle or PUNISHMENT, and, from 1978 on, the nation would enter in a new world solar cycle, on wich would be created indispensable conditions so that Portugal would take over the place on which was destined to be, from the very beginning.

Again, Pessoa according to his astrological  map , places Portugal  linked with the SUN  on  LION,the 5th house. This is related with the 5 wounds of christ , that also are  repres ented through  the 5 shields of our national flag. The number 5 or the 5th empire of the world.ACCording to experts on this matter, Portu-graals empire follows or,followed the assirians, persians, greeks , romans….Can i say….USA, AND CHINA AFTER…..CYCLES AND MORE CYCLES….

Portugal vs Spain…-2- Differences..also on facebook portucuriosities

So as promised here’s one more article about the main differences between the portuguese people and the spanish. I must emphasize that there ISN’T   any sort of issues between portuguese and the spanish.On the contrary , although my impression is that they love us more than we love them..

1. So another curiosity that i find interesting is that the spanish speak in GENERAL.. very loud amongst them, they are more extroverted and express themselves more openly which passes an impression of joy and energie everywhere. Not all of Spain is fiesta for sure. Also they are not so formal . Do they speak loud if they are sad..That is the question..

VS

So unlike our neighbour, generally speaking, we the Portuguese tend to be more into ourselves and even more polite, and not so harsh when addressing to someone, if i may say so.  Sometimes formal and not speaking so loud unless we are in a group of friends. But still….The loudness compared with the Spanish… I guess is not the same. We care a lot with the image towards the others, we are a culture that carries the image of  PH doctors and titles,  whilst the Spanish,  they don’t  care too much about that like the Portuguese do.

 

2. Another difference that i find interesting is the quality of the cafe served on both countries.

 

So the Portuguese culture is very based on coffee consumption like crazy. We can have an average of 3 or 4 espressos per day, and, i might say that the coffee served in Portugal is very very good in terms of quality, with an intense flavour, and might be one of the reasons for such a high consumption rate. Also socially we are more in to having lunch with the family on the weekends and then going to the  same old place all together to get their caffeine for 0,65cents,  and chat about trivial subjects.

 

VS

So unlike the portuguese coffee , the spanish is more a mix of natural and roasted coffee, giving it less intensity in terms of aroma, and with a burned flavour.I don’t want to be mean …but..even when a portuguese is not happy with his coffee the expression WATER TO WASH FEET is commonly used .Also, unlike the portuguese they don’t tend to wake up with an espresso in the morning.

Regarding the family socializing , the spanish do it more after the work schedule, bringing their kids and family , and gathering in bars and pubs, having their tapas and speaking loud. Also when consuming bread , in a restaurant , unlike the portuguese in general, the Spanish soak the bread on olive oil, is quite common, while the portuguese use more butter . I love the olive oil and bread as well. This is a general typical way of eating bread for each country.

 

3. The bull fight

So there are some differences between the portuguese bullfight and the spanish one.

Amongst other nuances , the portuguese bullfight does not include the death of the bull in the arena , unlike our neighbours.

Also ,  the Portuguese are known for their craziness and courage , because one of the activities in the portuguese bull fight arena, includes having a group of boys-men assisting another guy,himself constantly shouting at the bull . The goal is to make the bull come running towards him and then,with an impressive courage and skill, engaging on his horns . No olive oil is required….It is literally the beast against the human. Sometimes the catch doesn’t go as planned……