National Library celebrates 500 years since Camões’ birth
The National Library in Brasília launched on Wednesday (Jul. 24) the exhibition A língua que se escreve sobre o mar – Camões 500 anos (“The language that is written on the sea – Camões 500 years”), commemorating the fifth centenary of the Portuguese poet’s birth.
National Library President Marco Lucchesi told Agência Brasil the institution has a long tradition of celebrating Luís de Camões “for all [the institution] holds in its collection—both the works from the Casa do Infantado Royal Library and those acquired during the 19th and 20th centuries.”
“The National Library is a vital center of Camonian memory for the more than 700 works it has on Camões, especially the rare works,” Lucchesi added.
Among the rarities are the first edition of Os Lusíadas, from 1572, and the second, from 1584, as well as the works Rhytimas (1595) and Rimas (1616).
The exhibition also shows the presence of the first president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, Machado de Assis, at the first Camonian celebrations, which took place in 1880 in collaboration with other institutions—all featuring photographs taken at the time by Marc Ferrez.
“In this exhibition, we have tried to show the hard core, the great wealth of Camões’ first and second editions, the history of the exhibitions in this house from the 19th century onwards, as well as precious cartographic material, including that of Abraham Ortelius and Hans Staden’s original about the voyage to Brazil,” he went on to say.
Portugal’s Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel noted that the exhibition brings Camões back to life 500 years after his birth, adding that libraries play a key role in the transmission of knowledge and culture.
In essence, he said, the exhibition celebrates the Portuguese language. “None of the literatures in Portuguese would be what they are if it weren’t for Camões.”
The public will also be treated to a memory game which gives visitors the chance to find lines by Camões that are also reproduced elsewhere in the exhibition.
The president of the National Library emphasized the importance of the exhibition by saying that “the person who speaks the most here [in the exhibition] is Camões himself.”
Camoniana
The library is also exhibiting Camoniana, an exhibition with all the production the institution holds on Camões, now also covering the 21st century. It includes maps of Lisbon and the Americas made in Camões’ time—an era of navigation and discoveries that inspired Portugal’s greatest poet.
Visitors will also be able to see illustrations from Camões’ books, as well as various 16th to 19th century engravings and drawings that depict and pay homage to the writer.
The exhibition will be open to the public until October 4, and can also be viewed on the library’s website.
