Spirituality of Arrábida motivates exhibition
The exhibition of photographic art and thought “The Spirituality of Arrábida”, on view between September 9th and October 7th at the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the District of Setúbal, celebrates the 470th anniversary of the creation of the Parish of S. Sebastião.
On the pretext of this anniversary and with a view to the jubilee of 475 years, which will be celebrated in 2028, the Friends of the Parish of S. Sebastião invited eight photographers and ten thinkers to be inspired by the theme “The Spirituality of Arrábida”, challenging them to express art and thought through photography and writing.
The result is shown to the public in a collective exhibition at the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the District of Setúbal, which also aims to pay homage to the Setubal photographer Américo Ribeiro and two poets closely linked to Serra da Arrábida, Sebastião da Gama, whose centenary of birth is celebrated in 2024, and Frei Agostinho da Cruz.
Alberto Vale Rêgo, Casimiro Henriques, Frei Hermínio Araújo, Isabel Melo, João Reis Ribeiro, Joaquina Soares, José António Chocolate, Lourenço de Morais, Maria Helena Mattos and Salvador Peres are the thinkers involved in the initiative, while the invited photographers are Alberto Pereira, Carlos de Medeiros, João Completo, João Moura, José Alex Gandum, José Canelas, Nazar Kruk and Rosa Nunes.
Alberto Pereira and Carlos Sargedas are responsible for making short films, as part of an exhibition organized by the Parish of S. Sebastião – Setúbal and the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the District of Setúbal/Association of Municipalities of the Setúbal Region, with the aim of curators António Melo, Isabel Melo and Joaquina Soares.
Integrated into the Celebrations program for the 470th anniversary of the Parish of S. Sebastião, and open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday from 09:00 am to 12:30 pm and from 14:00 pm to 17:30 pm, the initiative has the support of the Setúbal City Council, the Council of Parish of S. Sebastião, Associação Cultural Sebastião da Gama, Synapsis, Arrábida Legend and the companies Casa Ermelinda Freitas, Nuno de Mesquita Pires and Secil.
The Parish of S. Sebastião was established by the Archbishop of Lisbon D. Fernando on March 14, 1553, by separation from the Parish of Santa Maria, through a Letter of Dismemberment and Separation.
The territory of the parish encompassed the outskirts of Palhais, the Bairro das Fontainhas, Hortas and Mouraria, namely the streets between Postigo do Ouvidor and Porta da Vila, with its headquarters in the Ermida de São Sebastião, located in the current Largo dos Defensores da República or Largo do Miradouro.
The parish headquarters was changed twice, first, in 1821, to the Church of Nossa Senhora da Boa Hora, the Grilos Church, and then, in 1835, to the Church of the Convent of S. Domingos, now extinct, where it still stands. finds.
The parish church of São Sebastião was founded between 1564 and 1566, in a work whose patronage and design are attributed, respectively, to D. Sebastião and the royal architect Afonso Álvares, also responsible for the churches of São Roque, in Lisbon, and Espírito Santo , in Évora, following the Mannerist model.
