Beja: The Portuguese Letters of love that inspired Rilke do 350 year old.
The Portuguese Letters Soror Mariana Alcoforado were published there are exactly 350 year old. In Beja, was inaugurated on Friday the exhibition “100 Steps”, from a wide program of activities that celebrate the nun.
The first edition, in French, of The Portuguese Letters Soror Mariana Alcoforado, it's from 4 January 1669. The editor was Claude Barbin and, na height, the author was not identified yet. But those five love letters (and suffering) sent by the Portuguese nun to the rider Noël Bouton Chamilly won its place in literary history. 350 year old, the date is marked in Beja, the land of Mariana Alcoforado, with the exhibition opening 100 Steps.
“The exhibition is called 100 Steps referring to this space where Mariana Alcoforado moved: the palace where she lived, the church of Santa Maria where he was baptized, the Convent of Nossa Senhora da Conceição where she was admitted to 11 years and where he spent his entire life, are all very nearby locations”, He explained to DN Francisco Passion, director of the Regional Museum of Beja. Mariana was confined to a small space but it had the look yonder.
The exhibition shows for the first time baptism registration Mariana Alcoforado and other documents related to his life, as well as works of art of the time. “She was the second daughter of a wealthy family and, as it was common, the first son inherited almost everything and the second daughter was admitted to a convent with a dowry, as a marriage. The dowry of Mariana Alcoforado was quite large and allowed the convent to make some improvements which are still visible as the tiles, the gilded, acquisition of some works of art”, Francisco explained Passion.
The exhibition can be visited until the last day of 2019. Throughout the year, the Municipality of Beja is planning other activities related to Sister Mariana Alcoforado, as a philatelic exhibition and concerts. The second edition of Festival B, which happens to 27 a 30 June in the city, It will also be dedicated to this figure (the schedule will be announced in March). “This exhibition is only the starting point for the celebrations”, says the director of the museum.
Mariana Alcoforado was born in Beja in the year 1640 and she was baptized in the Church of Santa Maria, on 22 April of the same year. It was his godfather D. Francisco da Gama, Count of Vidigueira and great grandson of Vasco da Gama. After the novitiate, he professed to 16 years exercising, later, the clerk positions and vicar. A 30 July 1709 It was proposed for the post of Abbess of the Convent, having been defeated for such an important post for 48 votes to 58 against. In March 1723, with 83 years, He signed a document last, on the closure of the Conception Convent of the quarter accounts. She died 28 July this year.
In letters it transpires the love he felt for the Marquis of Chamilly, French officer who fought in Portugal during the War of Restoration. Although the originals of the letters have not reached our days, We know of its existence for the first edition of the same, dated 4 January 1669, on France, por Claude Barbin, with title “Letters Portuguese Translated by François”.
Editions succeeded a little throughout Europe and, already in 1923, Ferreira according to Godfrey, scholar and collector of works on the cards, there 130 editions in several languages: French, English, italiano, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese. This greater love, “big for a single person”, as the poet Reiner Maria Rilke, It was a source of inspiration for poets, philosophers, writers, filmmakers, artists, musicians. Besides the beauty of the cards, the example of Mariana Alcoforado raises several questions about the gender condition, social position, overlapping a target imposed on the freedom to choose.
Photo (copyright): Convent of Nossa Senhora da Concei̤̣o РWindow replica where Mariana Alcoforado spoke to the Marquis of Chamilly.
