Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

It is with the greatest pleasure that we open today this magnificent area, the Platform of Arts and Creativity, which will become a new pole of attraction in this beautiful city of Guimarães.

A city that, this year, is the European Capital of Culture, well illustrating the international recognition of this unique urban area of culture and heritage. This is a city that had an ambition for the future and that had the ability and the effort to materialize this in cultural events, in actions that involved local agents and people, in buildings that will live on and serve the inhabitants of Guimarães.

The opening of this Platform meets what I have been underlining on several occasions: the cities of our times have to discover their vocation, have to find a purpose that distinguishes them from other precincts. Local authorities have to guide the mustering processes of local agents and citizens towards collective projects that combat depopulation and attract young people and, moreover, be included in the agenda for economic and social development that Portugal urgently requires materializing.

Guimarães found its purpose and is following its path, a path that must become an example. It has recovered the modular form of its historical centre and now, with the old Municipal Market changed into this Platform of Arts and Creativity, is showing a sample of its vitality and innovatory spirit.

It is worth while noting that this area will bring together three large programmatic centres: the Arts Centre, which will permanently house the Collection of Master José de Guimarães, and will become a foremost tourist attraction; then the installation of the Emergent Studios for the Support of Creativity and, lastly, the Creative Laboratories, supporting enterprise and developing creative industries.

I have emphasized the need for this region of the Country to assert itself as a privileged area for the growth of creative industries, jointly with entrepreneurial activity. This linking between artistic creativity and entrepreneurialism will surely result in renewed dynamics for companies, especially through the strengthening of its trade marks and the originality of its products. It will also constitute an important means to attract and employ young talented people.

I thus heartily salute the inclusion of this programmatic area in the Platform of Arts and Creativity.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I equally want to acknowledge, at this time, the extraordinary example of love for his mother country that we are favoured with by José de Guimarães, one of the Portuguese plastic artists with greater national and international projection, when assigning his collection to this Centre. It is true, of course, that his roots lie here, but his worldwide curriculum could have easily led him to take up another option. Many cities all over the world would unhesitatingly welcome the work of José de Guimarães that, from today onwards will be exhibited here.

We are all well aware of his vast work. We admire the colours that feature in his paintings, the singular and distinctive way in which he captures the human form, the fantastic movement of his figures, on canvas or in sculpture. Each of his works surprises us with its dynamics, the dynamics of colour, and the dynamics of movement. We are marvelled when watching the flight of his paper parrots, we take pride in viewing the fathomless list of the worldwide locations where he has exhibited his arduous and deliberate work, the work of a creative genius whose training was curiously absent from the world of arts.

As you are all aware, the Far East stamped a decisive stage in the unique trajectory of José de Guimarães, who even worked with Japanese techniques, assimilating the Buddhist inspiration.

In a certain way, a way of his own, José de Guimarães represents the Portuguese genius, and is a representative of all those who, throughout our History, travelled to the far side of the World but returned to the land of their roots. «Through seas never sailed before» was, anyway, the name of one of his artistic projects. José de Guimarães sailed unknown seas with his imaginative work, but returned to his original land. Many Portuguese travelled an identical path.

It is significant that, in various instances of his work, the sense of being Portuguese and its symbols are recreated. Dom Sebastião, Dom Pedro, Inês de Castro, D. João II and Camões are figures comprised in the work of José de Guimarães, a painter and sculptor renowned worldwide who never lost the attraction for the imagery and symbolism of his own country.

It is equally significant that the projection of the image of Portugal in the World is so much attached to his talent, through an emblematic figure that we all know.

José de Guimarães is, as you know, an artistic alias. The artist chose it because he was born here and, as such, wanted to honour the land of his origins. This Centre is another tribute that he is paying to his native land, to his native cradle. It is my belief that, from today onwards, José Maria Fernandes Marques will definitively adopt the identity of his artistic alias. He is, truly and only, José de Guimarães. All the people of Guimarães are grateful to him. And it is with emotion that I, on behalf of Portugal, also thank him for this gesture – a gesture of generosity, a gesture of loyalty to his roots, a moving gesture of being Portuguese.

Guimarães names the City’s day, as the “day one of Portugal”. Since, on that day of 24 June 1128, D. Afonso Henriques took the floor and stated that Portugal wanted to exist. And, until now, we are Portugal.

The commemorations of 24 June, the “day one of Portugal”, when we celebrate the battle of São Mamede, are a topmost moment when Guimarães annually promotes and recalls its identity with national history. Guimarães eternalizes the memory of the founder king, honouring its justified reputation as the cradle of Portugal.

But the truth is that nobody can remain forever in their cradle. The weight of the past will always remain with us but, above all, it has to be used to provide us with inspiration for the future. The past that Guimarães so exemplarily preserves gives us grounds to go forward.

As said by Fernando Pessoa, referring to Dom Afonso Henriques:

“Father, thou hast been a knight.
Now the vigil is yours.”

When, in 2009, I was here to receive, as trustee, the Gold Medal attributed to the King that was the Founder of Portugal, I was deeply moved, fully conscious of the significance of the gesture within the framework of our existence as a State and as a Nation.

The same distinction, now attributed to the President of the Republic of Portugal, is for me an equally moving gesture, and consecrates the poet’s deep saying: the Founder, in his era, was loyal to his mission; now the vigil is ours.

Thank you very much