Heritage...

My friend Ivo says that the Portuguese today have nothing to keep them together. No political movement or cultural expression that helps them identify themselves as a people. Hence, they desperately cling on to every scrap from their past.

Ivo was trying to problematize the naturalized assumptions on conservation of archaeological sites. He questioned the undue stress on preservation at the expense of means of livelihood. According to him, when it comes to a balance of interests the ‘heritage managers’ of Portugal clearly have their priorities wrong.

The train station of Oriente in Lisbon faces one of the largest shopping centers of the city- Centro Vasco- da- Gama. Oriente is located on the Parque das Nações, a commercial cum residential area to the north-east of Lisbon and next to the Tagus estuary. The area underwent a total architectural transformation as the location of Expo 98, World Exhibition. Parque das Nações is at present the new centre of urban Lisbon.

Last week, during my two-days stay here I encountered ‘Vasco -da- Gama’ time and again. The Expo 98 was planned to coincide with the 500th anniversary of his voyage to India. The 145 meters tall Vasco-da- Gama tower is in the shape of a nautical scale. It provides a panoramic view which includes one of the longest bridges in the world built over the river Tagus. You guessed right...the Vasco- da- Gama Bridge. The mascot of the famous Oceanarium is a little Vasco!... And, running parallel to the Tagus, in full view of the Vasco-da-Gama Bridge, is Rua da Pimenta- literally, the street of pepper. I hope it is not a celebration of the loot!

Portugal is shameless in its commemoration of their sea pirates and their exploits. The castle of Belmonte in central Portugal proudly claims to be the birth place of the ‘discoverer’ of Brazil- Pedro Álvares Cabral. The man was busy with trying to ‘discover’ India when he came across Brazil. Think of what we all would have done were it not for these great souls!

The country which greets you is a country of freedom, open to modernisation. A nation that left its imprint, and many memories in all countries and made the sea its own destiny...
(Jorge Sampio, President of the Republic, Expo 98)

In its new narrative of liberalization and ‘change’ Portugal evokes with pride its bloody history of arson and loot.