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Preserving Goan Heritage
Written by NT Network
Tuesday, 23 February 2010 01:47
Margao: The imposing and regal Figueiredo Mansion set in the midst of
picturesque Loutolim landscape at Tolleband was converted into a
museum–albeit partly–at a select function recently.
The project of making this mansion, an embodiment of Goan heritage, into
a museum, is in collaboration with the Xavier Centre of Historical Research.
The original portion of this palatial mansion was built in the
seventeenth century while an annex was added some two hundred years ago.
The inaugural saw General Sunith Rodrigues do the ceremonial honours
while Fr Delio of the Xavier Historical Centre speaking to the elite
gathered there promised that the Centre would do all it can to support
the project.
Also present for the function, albeit a little later, were Orhan Pamuk,
winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature and Kiran Desai, winner of
the Man Booker Prize of 2006– household names in literary circles. The
Nobel Laureate is also planning to start his own museum in Istanbul.
After the formal opening, a slow walk around the mansion made us feel as
if we were walking into a history book. Everything was surreal, like a
set from a movie–right from the furniture to the striking upholstery, to
the classic crockery and cutlery. And this house stands intact and
proud, thanks to two people–the late Dona Georgina and her sister Maria
de Lourdes Figueiredo de Albuquerque.
History tells us that the Portuguese built up certain families to help
them keep control over the general population. But probably never
realised that they would outstrip them in influence, culture, class and
even wealth.
Vivek Menezes, a member of the trust points out that the items in the
mansion are a reflection of different influences–Goan, Indian, Chinese,
Portuguese, French, Italian, Belgian, Spanish, Macanese, Mozambican,
Brazilian, and even Persian: all very classy and very beautiful.
But Vivek is emphatic in pointing out that this is not a Portuguese
house but “a Goan house containing influences of both, the East and the
West.”
Be it the furniture–carved and elegant, or the bookcases holding books
in five languages, dating back to the 19th Century; everything is a
reflection of the classy and cultured people that inhabited this
mansion, and also some other mansions around the state. It gives an idea
of Goan royalty, comparable to any blueblood in any other part of
Europe, in every way.
http://www.navhindtimes.in/buzz/9030-preserving-goan-heritage
