The weather has turned and it's going to be a rainy day. So, we use this day to check out the little museums and churches in Horta (14,331 in 2021), and there are quite a few. We want to focus on the unusual, local sites.
The Fábrica da Baleia de Porto Pim is a whaling museum set in an old 'factory' (processing plant, twentieth century). Despite the rain, the folks running the museum are outside; evidently the door is sticking because of the humid air (a common problem?).
The history of whaling in Horta begins in America, with the industry established in Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the seventeenth century. At the end of the eighteenth century, the whalers show up in the Açores and the archipelago becomes a waypoint for their boats. Eventually, the locals learn this trade, baleação, and their own industry begins to flourish. A key figure in this history is John Bass Dabney, the US Consul to the Açores; he imports the boats, establishes the commercial port, and even finances the laying of telegraph line to the island.
Initially, the whaling is centered on óleo de espermacete (spermaceti), the oily wax found in the head cavities of the cachalote (sperm whale), which has several commercial applications. In the early twentieth century, the industrial processes of the Fábrica (est 1942) allow the whalers to harvest other products, such as blubber and bone meal for soaps, fragrances, livestock feed, and lamp oil. The Fábrica ceases activity in 1974, though whaling in the Açores continues until it is outlawed in 1987.
Nowadays, the Fábrica is also headquarters to the Observatório do Mar dos Açores, and Faial is the center of a thriving cetacean research and tourism community – the museum is a result of this effort. Fantastically restored, and well explained, the museum shows the factory floor, including the large wooden secadores (meat dryers).
In the back there is a small theater underneath a life-size model of a cachalote; it shows gruesome movies of the hunt (like this from YouTube: Barbed Water (1968, 53:54 – graphic), but that also show the communal aspect of this endeavor – when give the opportunity making money on tourism, the whalers pitch-in on that, too. We can forgive the people, then, who want nothing more than to take care of each other.
In its loft, over the autoclaves do toucinho (blubber cookers), the museum features the esqueleto of a small (10.5 meters) female, recovered at sea in 2010. The panel behind the esqueleto explains the biology in extreme detail.
We pause for lunch on the other side of the Praia do Porto Pim. This feels like the 'local neighborhood' of Horta, away from the Marina and with a much more intimate scale. There is a old defensive structure, the Portão do Porto Pim (seventeenth century), made from that ubiquitous volcanic stone, which allows access to the beach from the west.
After lunch, we return to the whaling theme and visit the Scrimshaw Museum, located above the popular Peter's Café Sport. Amazing and unexpected, this collection must include several thousand objects; the size of the teeth is similarly surprising (the teeth of the esqueleto at the Fábrica were much smaller). The images include scenes of the Discoveries, of whales and whaling, of famous ships, and local characters. There are of course, portraits of celebrities, but the images of the townsfolk who suffered local disasters is so moving (zoom the photo and look at the craftsmanship).
The docent gives a quick, scripted tour, and points to the far side of the room where we find the older (nineteenth century) pieces. We are curious that that some of the earliest ones at 'stippled', and ask about the artists and designs, but she does not have that information (the web site has names of some of the artists).
Further along the seawall, all around the Forte de Santa Cruz (sixteenth century), we find the insignia painted by the sailors who have passed through Horta. Each square(ish) area of the mural tells the story of a voyage: places of origin, destinations, and the people who made the journeys. It's a true testament to the unique part this town plays in the Atlantic's maritime culture.
From the Porto da Horta, we can see three church fronts, and we go in search of them. The first, the most southerly, is the Igreja de São Francisco (late seventeenth century), currently closed and in a partial state of disrepair; even the small garden just below the entrance seems to be abandoned (currently hidden behind the colorful masks).
Just a few blocks to the north is the Igreja Matriz do Santíssimo Salvador (seventeenth century), which is attached to both the Museu da Horta and the Câmara Municipal. Unfortunately, a sign informs us that this is a time of community prayer, so we move on.
Continuing north, and up a steep ramp is the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries); this is part of the Museu de Arte Sacra. Having made the climb, the panorama from the top of the ramp and the plaza are tremendous.
Because the capelas are now exhibit spaces of the Museu, much of the religious storytelling is veiled. Perhaps most interesting, the stair to the crypt, just in front of the altar, is still exposed – peering into the dim stairwell, we can only make out an empty shelf (?).
The capela for Nossa Senhora is also closed for restoration (marked by the three-star crest of the Ordem do Carmo). However, her figure can still be seen in the altar, holding the escapulário.
Oração …Santíssima Virgem Maria,Esplendor e Glória do Carmelo,vós olhais com especial ternuraos que se revestem como vosso Santo Escapulário.Cobri-me com o manto da vossamaternal protecção, pois a Vósme consagro hoje e para sempre.Fortalecei a minha fraqueza com ovosso poder …Amen.[Prayer …Blessed Virgin Mary,Splendor and Glory of Carmel,you look with special tendernessthose who are covered withyour Holy Scapular.Cover me with the mantle of yoursmaternal protection, because to YouI consecrate myself today and forever.Strengthen my weakness withyour power …Amen.]
In the north transept, the Capela do Santíssimo Sacramento is in a graceful state of decay, with a patchwork of azulejos. In the corner is São Pedro acorrentado (in chains), surrounded by the nearly bare walls.
Making our way back down the hill, we pass the Sociedade de Amor da Pátria (Masonic lodge and event space, twentieth century, by architect Manuel Joaquim Norte Júnior – who we've met before), an Art Deco-ish building with panels of blue hydrangea under its eaves. At the corner is the Memoria do Vulcão da Praia de Norte, to the victims of the 1672 eruption.
The Jardim da Praça da República incorporates the local volcanic rock. From here, we climb again to the Torre do Relógio (eighteenth century), then to the neighboring Jardim Florêncio Terra with its excellent miradouro, and before we descend to the Marina. The Torre is all that remains of the old Igreja Matriz, which burned in 1597, along with several other of Horta's churches, set alight by the English.
No comments:
Post a Comment