Portugal may be a poor country in economic terms, and politically growing as a democracy, but it is certainly very rich in treasures of documentation and art from the world over, particularly from Asia and Africa, where they reached a century before the other European colonial powers. These treasures may not be comparable with what UK and France have, but they are sizable for Portugal.
Museum of *Arte Antiga*, Museum of Ethnography and Museum of the Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, are a must for any Indian visitor. But there are others. The main archives on Indian matters are the *Torre do Tombo* (National Archives), the Arquivo Historico Ultramarino (Overseas Archives), the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library with is archival section), The Ajuda Library with its own archival section). These are just a few of the main archives with extensive documentation about the whole of Asia, including India /Goa. Those interested in more details may consult the webpage at http://www.terravista.pt/AguaAlto/1018/roteiros.html Marlon seems to be referring to the devolution of gold taken to Portugal in 1961 and officially returned in 1993-94. Unofficially though many Goans seem to have recovered their gold without any government intervention. In 1961, when the regime of Salazar did not want to take back its men kept as POWs in Goa, and threatened to expel the Indians from Mozambique, Jorge Jardim was sent by Portuguese government to work out a diplomatic deal. This man (died recently) was a very "capable" and secret agent of a kind. He seems to have engineered some bomb explosions in Goa soon after the take-over, including an attempt on life of K.P. Candeth. Vide a book entitled *Jorge Jardim: Agente Secreto* by J. Freire Antunes (Lisboa, Bertrand Editora, 1996). On request from the then Minister of Overseas affairs in Lisbon, he managed to take away a couple of rare paintings of the viceroys from Goa. At least those of the first two viceroys were brought by him soon after the occupation of Goa and are now kept in the Museum of Arte Antiga. The Portuguese minister seems to have asked for one of D. Jo�o de Castro, but he got the others by mistake! In seven years from now the Portuguese will be getting ready to commemorate their conquest of Goa by Afonso de Albuquerque! We will certainly have more fun on the goanet then. * Promete*, as the Portuguese would say! As regards most other valuable pieces in the museums in Portugal, they came at various times as donations of Portuguese families who had family members posted in India (elsewhere in their empire), or brought by *study missions* sent at various times ( specially from the beginning of the 20th century). The bulk of pieces were seized from the various religious houses in the mid 19th century, when the Portuguese *liberal* governments supressed religious orders / congregations. The religous houses were getting their art pieces from wherever they had their missionaries at work. Contrary to the trend of asking for devolution, I am rather of the opinion that we are lucky that many documents and objects of art survived the tropical climate and social conditions by being brought to Europe. National pride may justify the interest in having some of the symbolic pieces back, but most are better preserved where they are and are available for study to whomever wishes to do so. Message: 3 Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 15:37:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Marlon Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Goanet]Re: Goa's social indicators -- implications / applications? To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Does Portugal have any major holdings of treasures from Goa/India? I recall, much was returned a few years ago. In any case I cant imagine what items of value the Portuguese could have taken out of Goa! I am obviously not an expert on the historical events and wish not to pass judgement on the cultural impact of Portugal's rule. However from an economic point of view, it seem to me that Goa's average standard of living was significantly higher than the rest of India's in 1961. Marlon ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
