A five-century-old porcelain bottle and the last flag that flew when Macau’s administration was handed over are among the objects depicting Portugal’s relationship with the region at the Macau Science and Culture Center in Lisbon.
These are just two of the approximately 4,000 pieces on display in the museum space of the Macau Science and Culture Center (CCCM), which aims to “Give an idea of 5,000 years of Chinese history and art, ranging from the Neolithic Age to the early 20th century”said the museum director, Rui Dantas.
In this space, he told Lusa, visitors can observe “how Macau came to be and the relations that developed between Europe and Asia starting from Macau”.
The collection has examples of the first Neolithic ceramics, even tomb terracotta, bronzes, pottery songamong other things, objects for smoking opium, paintings, silverware and fans.
One of the featured objects is a decorated bottle commissioned in 1522 by Jorge Álvares, a wealthy merchant from Freixo Espada à Cinta who had Fernão Mendes Pinto as a partner and who was one of the Portuguese pioneers in the porcelain trade.
The work marks the beginning of the porcelain trade, as it was one of the first commissioned pieces in the beginning of a huge journey of commercial exchanges, the director of the Museum of Macau explained.
Another notable piece is a Buddha signed by the ceramics artist Pun Yu Shu, apprentice to the famed master of Shek Wan ceramics, and commissioned by the collector Silva Mendes, the first European to collect quality pieces with Shek marks Wan ceramics. .
The space has a note on the handover (of the administration of the territory from Portugal to China), after the last flag was lowered during the official ceremonies of the handover of the administration of Macau, in 1999.
That was precisely the year the CCCM was founded, with the aim of “promoting knowledge of relations between Europe and Asia”, goals that are maintained, with a strong component in training, according to the Center’s president, Cármen Mendes.
In this area, he highlighted the Chinese culture and language course, recalling that the center was “the first institution to teach this course in Portugal”.
According to Cármen Mendes, this is a “living” center, where many researchers, PhD students, fellows and people interested in the relations between Portugal and Asia, and others who want the training offer, such as on patuá (Macao Creole) or the guzheng (traditional Chinese musical instrument), performed in this space.
“We are getting more and more visitors, not only in our library – the best library of works on Asia in Portugal, which brings together researchers and others interested in Asia -, our museum and the training we provide for specialists, both academics and civil society and the general public”he pointed to Lusa.
At the research level, he emphasized, “the center has played a pioneering role in connecting all academics working in Portugal on Asia, some Portuguese abroad and some foreigners with strong ties to Portuguese academia”.
He also highlighted the spring conferences, which bring together about 180 speakers, and the award of annual doctoral fellowships, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), which oversees the center, to doctoral students conducting research in Asia.
The CCCM has 25 PhD fellows, volunteers who achieve great proximity to Asia in this space.
“We have people here from the most diverse disciplines – from art, religion, language, culture, also history and economics, but there is something that unites them: a passion for Asia”stated
Cármen Mendes is excited about establishing a scientific and academic incubator, which “it allows researchers, entrepreneurs and even artists to have this connection with Macau, through the University of São José, Catholic University of Macau”.
As for the library, the head of the CCCM’s Information and Documentation Department, Helena Dias Coelho, states that it was primarily “focused on the study of relations between Portugal and Macau” and later expanded to cover all of Asia.
“We are mainly sought after by Asian studies students, researchers, many by young higher education students, PhD students and our documentation responds to this type of demand”he said to Lusa.
In this library, the most sought-after works are the general works on the history of Asia, but also the collections, namely, of Monsignor Manuel Teixeira, a historian who lived in Macau, where he published more than a hundred books and hundreds of articles in the press.
It was he who donated his collection to the CCCM, which was duly treated and consulted, divided into books, photographs, texts and small notes.
The archives of this library also house a collection of microfilms consisting of about 7,000 microfilms, containing more than 50,000 essential documents for the study of Macao and its institutions, between the early 17th century and the mid-20th century.
Source: DN
