We are now doubly blessed – another offer to spend time in the Beira Interior means a return trip to Alfaiates (pop 360 in 2021) on Portugal's eastern border. We have ten days to explore a few new towns and revisit others.
We make a lunch stop in Fundão (pop 26,509 in 2021). Fundão is home to the newspaper where our guide, José Saramago, cut his teeth. Saramago tells a ghost story about a young man, José Junior, who dies soon after Saramago publishes his story:
Another José appears in front of the desk I am writing at. He doesn’t have a face, only a vague shape, one that shakes as if in non-stop pain. I don’t know any more about his family or his name than that he is called José Júnior, and that he lives in São Jorge da Beira. He’s young, gets drunk, and is treated as if he were stupid. A few people make fun of him, and some children play tricks on him, throw stones at him from afar. Or if they did not do that, they surrounded him with that sudden cruelty children are capable of, and José Júnior, blind drunk, fell and broke his leg—or perhaps not—and ended up in hospital. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
The story concerns "our disdain if not hatred for our fellow man, this kind of epidemic madness that here, there and everywhere prefers easy victims". If Fundão is haunted by such ghosts, it is worthy of a visit.
We find lunch near the Pavilhão Multiusos, where a morning market is closing, and a small tent is serving some decent middle eastern food. As the vendors break down their stalls across the plaza to the north, they expose the hills of the Vale do Zêzere. We begin to settle back into rural Portugal.
After lunch, we seek out the Chafariz das Oitos Bicas (nineteenth century). The dedication is almost completely worn, and the buildings around the Chafariz need attention (legible in this photo: superatis mille de ficultatis sus acta – "having overcome a thousand hardships").
On the Rua da Cale we find the Igreja Matriz (de São Martinho, eighteenth century). The Igreja is a modest Baroque building, with an excellent anthropomorphic portal and a pair of bell towers facing a small park. Just to the north of the Igreja Matriz are the Igreja de Misericórdia (sixteenth century) and the Capela de São Miguel (seventeenth century).
Every region occupies its own time and space. Let’s look first of all at Fundão, where we are now—or rather, let’s see what we can of Fundão in the time available to us. The high altar of the parish church for example, with its golden altarpiece, and especially the painted panels of the ceiling, done by artisans or a minor school of artists. The traveller thinks it is high time to pay more attention to these secondary works, to look for the signs they offer of a little—or greater—originality. Besides the major painters, whether or not they are identified, there is room for these lesser works, which are not always second-hand, or mere copies. Portugal is full of minor works which would reward greater study: that’s the traveller’s opinion at least. Also worth seeing is the cross in the Capela de Nossa Senhora da Luz, which might be called the Crucifixion of Two Sorrows: on the one hand, the crucified Christ, on the other side, his mother. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
The altar ceiling is fantastic, with each image carefully labelled. Dominus Noster J Christus – "Our Lord Christ" – and the Virgo Maria are in the center. S Martinus (São Martinho) is just above the arch's keystone. The portraits of S Michael and S Andreas are particularly dramatic. The azulejos panel above the altar arch shows the Nativity (with cows), The Last Supper, and the Crucifixion.
The barrel vault seems to be tapered, creating an exaggerated perspective – perhaps the arch at the altar is lower than the arch facing the nave.
On our way back to the car, we cross the Praça do Município and pass the pelourinho. When we arrive in Alfaiates, we take a walk to the Castelo. The scaffolding from our last visit is gone, replaced by an enormous crane. The walls look wonderfully refreshed, though the shuttering remains around the front portal – almost ready for visitors.
In the Largo de Nossa Senhora da Póvoa, we recollect Her reassuring dedication from our last trip: protegei os emigrantes ("protect the emigrants").
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