The Constitution of 1822 was signed two hundred years ago and the Assembly of the Republic will inaugurate a public exhibition this Friday with several pieces of parliamentary history that culminated in the first Portuguese Fundamental Law, “daughter” of the Liberal Revolution.
With brush in hand and extreme attention to detail, Alexandra Santos, conservator-restorer, fills several holes in a gilded frame, illuminated by the light streaming through the glass vault of the Sala dos Passos Perdidos, in the Assembly of the Republic.
The list shows the study carried out by José Veloso Salgado in 1920 of the painting that now stands atop the Sala das Sessões, the main stage of the most important political debates in the country, and that the Assembly of the Constituent Courts of 1821, convened after the revolution, liberal of the previous year, in Porto.
This Friday, in solemn session, the Assembly of the Republic, with the participation of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, celebrates the bicentenary of the Constitution of 1822, signed on September 23 of that year.
Shortly afterwards, the exhibition “The First Portuguese Constitution — 1822” will be inaugurated by the Speaker of the Parliament, Augusto Santos Silva, by the President of the Republic and by the President of the Commemorations of the Bicentenary of Portuguese Constitutionalism, Professor Guilherme de Oliveira Martins.
“This is a documentary exhibition that captures all the great moments of the construction of all the works that led to the Constitution of 1822. We have the part of the preparatory work, the way the deputies were elected, then the key moments in the beginning of the Constituent Courts in 1821″José Manuel Araújo, Director of Information and Culture of the Assembly of the Republic, detailed to Lusa.
The principle of popular sovereignty, the separation of powers or the guarantee of individual freedoms were some of the values enshrined in the first Portuguese Constitution, which lasted only eight months but left a legacy that is still reflected in today’s fundamental law.
José Manuel Araújo stressed that among the pieces of history from the Parliament’s documentary and museum collection, there are also acts of those constitutional courts that were drafted outside the constitution, such as a bill on freedom of the press or the abolition of the Tribunal of the inquisition.
“I think the most important thing is even the speed with which the constitutional courts were created, their work, the immediate settlement of some matters that, because of the ideals of the liberal revolution, had to happen and happened quickly”emphasizes.
For this reason, he continued, there was no need to wait for the adoption of the Constitution to pass a series of laws intended to guarantee “immediately a new era, a new moment”.
While the young Alexandra Araújo quietly worked on the gilded frame, the preparations were buzzing around her, with several people assembling constructions in shades of gold or placing the documentary collection in the right place.
Then the greatest “treasure” of the exhibition appeared: the original manuscript of the Constitution of 1822, on parchment, with the binding covered with blue velvet and decorated with silver thread, consisting of 240 articles.
With extreme care and gloves on, one of the employees of the Parliament’s Historical Archives took the copy, while another placed under an acrylic frame a “bed” of a material designed to protect the original from moisture build-up. and possible fungi.
Directly behind the acrylic where the Constitution will be exhibited, it is possible to find a panel with the names of the parliamentarians who signed the document, “so that all people can know who were the deputies from their region who were here” , said José Manuel Araújo, as well as a digital panel that allows the document to be consulted in an interactive way.
Among the estate you will still find the minutes that were brought back at the time by the deputies of the electoral commissions “to confirm their election”.
The exhibition, which was prepared in May, was a request from the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, who believed that the parliament “couldn’t neglect” this date.
“In total we have involved maybe 20 to 30 people from the services of the Assembly, with some outside providers who have made this exhibition shine as it is”pushed the person responsible forward.
The exhibition is open to the public until the end of the year, is free and does not require an appointment unless the visitor wants more explanation. According to the parliament’s website, tours take place on weekdays between 10am and 12 noon and between 2pm and 5pm, every hour.
The kick off for the bicentenary in parliament starts this Thursday with an evocative concert by João Domingos Bomtempo, then a pianist and composer, in the Senate Hall.
Source: DN
