poeta's museum

VISIT - “THE POETA`S MUSEUM” - VISIT

The “POETA`S MUSEUM“ is an open book that which you can read as you walk among big stones that which are like gigantic pages on which there are about 3000 tiles with thoughts in Portuguese and in English extracted from all the books written and published by Fernando Baralba, the founder of the “Museum” which is the name of war of Fernando Baptista Barata de Almeida.

If you visit the “POETA`S MUSEUM” you can also appreciate some of his works in pre-Columbian, Egyptian and modern sculptures as well as some works in ceramic, such as a nude by Matisse, Fernando Pessoa and some others.

This “Museum” is a cultural manifestation that which by its characteristics, quantity and variety probably there is nothing like it in the world.

Spend some different moments, for better, two steps away from the beach. Here you have much to see, to read and to think, and even to laugh, sometimes with tears in your teeth.

The founder of the “Museum” was born in Coimbra, Portugal, he spent most of his youth in Nazaré, a lovely beach and fishing village, later he lived in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. He came to Portimão in 1969 and in 1974 came to Praia da Oura, Albufeira, where he was one of the pioneers to invest as he opened his first restaurant and as he succeed he had much influence in the development of the area.He is now the owner of several restaurants as well as some other shops, he says that “Art without money is like a cake without sugar” and “The success of a musician lies in the value he gets with his notes”, in fact, he believes that art is not free if it is not independent, that is, if the artist depends only on it to survive. He has for exemple, the art of changing his “talents” from writing to business or from this to the other, in a matter of seconds, and he enjoys just as much to write a good thought or to write a good poem, just as much as he likes to do the right buy.

In the year 2.000 he founded on EN 125, Fontainhas, Albufeira, his first “museum” and in Mosqueira, Albufeira, where he lives, he has another with about 2.000 ceramic works some of which hand painted by his wife Cidália, that which he plans to transfer to one of his properties at Poço Partido, Carvoeiro,Lagoa.

In the last twenty years he has worked every day for these two “Museums” and he strongly believes that in 200 or 300 years they may be “discovered”. That is, if future generations will know how to read, to write or to dream...

Fernando Baralba is the name of “war” of Fernando Baptista Barata de Almeida, the founder of these two “Museums” and he does not only write hundreds of thoughts, he also writes poetry, essays and does ceramic works, wooden carving as well as oill painting. He speaks several languages and has visited dozens of countries.

“ONE OF THESE THOUGHTS MAY CHANGE YOUR LIFE, IF IT DOES, AND IF IT IS FOR BETTER, ALL MY EFFORTS OF MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS WERE NOT IN VAIN”.

“If a man is a book, a woman is a library”.

“There is always a hidden possibility in the realm of impossibility”.

“Water your garden with joy and you will be happy, water it with sadness and you will be unhappy”.

“Nothing is good for those who are good for nothing”.

“There is always space above for those who want to go up”.

“Politics is the art of making a fool out of each one of us”.

“The blood of the weak is the life of the strong”.

“A woman is a step backwards when we want to go forward”.

“An apple every night, keeps the doctor out of sight”.

“The duty of the father is to show the way, that of the son is to do the walking”.

“Do not sweeten your life with somebody else`s sugar”.

“Dreams of misery will keep a stomach empty”.

“We all suffer the consequences of being what you are”.

“There is always something in common between an artist and another artist, regardless of the disparity of their art”.

“Bureaucracy is the mother of illegality”.

“A man is a book whose authors only wrote the introduction”.

“The blood of the weak is the life of the strong”.

“A man meets a woman, marries an algel an will live with the devil for ever after”.

“Patience is a valuable possession, but those who possess it hardly possess anything else”.

“See things that are clear and bright, do things that are good and right”.

“A book is a plant that only flourishes when his author is already dead”.

“As a man gains power so he loses his reason”.

“Valuable thoughts come to the minds that seach for them”.

“There is always space above for those who want to go up

“Man is a poem written by a man and by a woman in a moment of folly”.

“When we lose our hope we lose half of our might”

“We lose the big things when we do not care about the small things”.

“If God had not rested on the seventh day he would have made more mistakes”.

“Impossibility is composed of many possibilities”.

“God is the revenge of the poor”

“Yesterday`s dream is today`s nightmare”.

“The ambition of the poor builds the wealth of the rich”.

“We are all the consequence of being what we have been”.

“He who fights in the present, shall conquer the future”.

This book was written with a strong conviction that man can one day become super-man and that, within many centuries or perhaps millenniums, he will set out on the road of goodness, which could elevate man to the point of surpassing himself. It is evident that this work presents a few ideological principles with certain utopian tendencies and, consequently, impracticable with respect to present-day man, but which could be useful for the man of tomorrow if he develops the beneficial force that lies deep within him, that which would sink the opposing force and which makes him what he is... About the book “THE SUPER – MAN DIALOGUE”

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Super-man calls ignorance and says: “Come with me and I will make of you what I am”. Ignorance does not go; super-man is a psychologist talking to a fool, he learns but does not teach, he lives in sadness, sadness for seing that people suffer.

Man has always been thus, yet he has confidence in him and truly believes that one day man will surrender, he will follow his path, he will bring to the top of him all the goodness that lies there that which will bury all the wickedness that makes of him what he really is. He believes that there is a certain hope and that the centriptal force that is the cause of envy, egoism, intrigue and all the evil that is within himself shall be replaced by a centrifugal force which , coming from within us, is directed at others.

When man dies, he dies for ever, he will never come back into being, death is like life, it only exists once for all time and that is the reason why no-one should ever kill anyone. The judge who condemns a muderer to half a dozen years in prison undervalues his own life. Death is the transformation of matter, matter that will be distributed by other beings that will be used as food by them and that which shall be part of them, for the fish that is eaten by meat shall be meat and the meat that is eaten by fish shall be fish...

In the world of super-man there is no place for gods and the souls of the death. His God is humanity, each man will be the soul of this body, an organized body as if it were a single individual, his Heaven will be Earth, his angels will be mankind, that is, we all without exception are part of that body called humanity.

Extractions from the book “THE SUPER – MAN DIALOGUE”

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When I find myself in the world of books and I cannot find the book I`d like to read, I write it myself, which makes me ( pardon my immodesty ) my “favorite” writer. I don`t know, for exemple, the effect that my books might have on people, but as for me, they give me a sense of well-being and tranquillity, perhaps because they were written by me and for me. For this reason, the main mission of the books that I wrote has been accomplished. I have never had the ambition of being considered a writer, however, I have always liked to “play” with words and tell myself “my truths”, which unfortunately will almost certainly be of the truths of many other people and besides this, I also have the “skill” of re-examining the ungrateful and bad people in my super-beast, that is in the super-beast of my book “THE SUPER – DIALOGUE” and feel pity for them, pity for their ingratitude, pity for their evilness.

Having in consideration that the “POETA´S MUSEUM I” at road 125, Fontainhas, Albufeira, may be closed, we suggest to visit the “POETA´S MUSEUM II” at Quinta do Poeta, Mosqueira, Albufeira, where there are about 2000 tiles with thoughts in Portuguese and in English and you can get there the books written by Fernando Baralba, the founder of both “museums.”





- EXCURSIONS -

MEL – Once I saw two friends commiting suicide with two daggers.

FEL – How ?

MEL – They placed the points of the daggers on each other`s chest and then in a mortal embrace they bury them in their hearts; one takes the life of the other by pressing a dagger with his chest into the chest of the other.

FEL – What did you do?

MEL – Nothing, I envied their courage.

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Nature takes from all the other beings a bit of the worst of them, mixes it all together in one body and so man appears on earth as a consequence of this unfortunate experience.

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FEL – When man opens the door of life, he is pure.

MEL – And then?

FEL – The others force him to be like them.

Extractions from the book “THE DIALOGUE OF DEATH” (1972).

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There is an atom called man and another called woman; these two closely ralated atoms and due to that relationship they are atracted to each other, often they combine, and from that combination other atoms are ocasionly produced. There are , however, some of these similar atoms that due to a certain abnormal structure are atracted to their own kind, and others, that due also to structural abnormality are rather versatile and may be able to combine with the closely related atoms and those of their own kind. Anomalistic association, however, do not cause the origen of other atoms because that is only possible if both related atoms unite and not two of the same kind.

Extracted from the book

“THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN AND HELL”

Writen in Vancouver in 1961

“A KISS, A KISS TO ME”

A kiss, a kiss to me,

But I do not know what to do,

If I will ask two or three,

Can you tell me ,

What will you do?

Give me a kiss, a kiss to me,

Because I am in love with you,

But if I will ask two or three,

Can you tell me,

What will you do?

Why don`t you kiss me,

If you will be my wife?

I don`t want two or three,

Only a kiss, a kiss to me,

Anf you will be my life.

Why do you say nothing,

If you will be my wife?

I don`t want to or three,

So I`ll say the same thing,

To you my darling,

Only a kiss, a kiss to me.

This was my first step in the English language

(Nazaré 1954)

“THE DIABOLIC DIVINITY”

(Thoughts)

“THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN AND HELL”

(Thoughts)

“DIVINE HELL”

(Thoughts)

“DIABOLIC ANGEL”

(Thoughts)

To be published:

“DIALOGUE ABOUT SUPERMAN”

“Essay”

“DIALOGUE OF DEATH”

“Essay”

“THOUGHTS OF GOOD AND EVEL”

(Thoughts)

Published in Portuguese:

“SOMBRAS NA LAMA”

(Poetry)

“A DIVINDADE DIABÓLICA”

(Thoughts)

“DIÁLOGO SOBRE O SUPER – HOMEM”

(Essay)

“O DIÁLOGO DA MORTE”

(Essay)

To be published:

“PENSAMENTOS DO BEM E DO MAL”

(Thoughts)

“CASOS AO ACASO”

(Essay)

We`d seen the sign hundred of times – “ Museu do Poeta”. Was it a joke in poor taste - or a trick to ambush tourists? The land is not level with the road, and thus hidden from view of drivers as they travel the saction on the EN 125 between Albufeira and Patã.

The museum founder and creator is Fernando Baptista Barata de Almeida aged 72.

“I believe that we should all leave our mark on the world – and something that can survive us for a long time is art”, is how he explains the phylosophy behind his private “museum”.

Within there are more than 3.000 tiles carrying thoughts and sayings in Portuguese and in English – all taken out of books that he`s written and published throughout his life. Some of the phrases carry strong political messages and social criticism, still as current today as they were 50 years ago when he first thought them up.

Together. The tiles all painted by this “poet” by hand, work like a gigantic book. The words have all been meticulously placed by Fernando Baralba (his artistic name) over the last nine years. “To be honest, I started creating this museum long before I had a peace of land. I thought it would be much more interesting if it was in a place of passage – so the people passing through could also enjoy it. The themes behind the poems are diverse – but it`s material to prompt reflection. “I like to think that if one of these thoughts changes someone`s life for the better, all my efforts won`t have been in vain”.

A little disapointed with the lack of public interest – “I tend to say that my visitors are either foreigners or Spaniards” – the truth is that this man has constructed an exhibition of local culture with his own efforts, time and money. How? He was one of the pioneers

of the tourist catering industry in Praia da Oura – and that`s where the “Poet” nickname comes from. He had a restaurant, a crafts shop – and a good eye for business.Before that he`d spent time in Canada where he learnt English, and the secrets of the hotel and catering trade

“I opened my restaurant on the 11^th March 1975. At the time, it was fashionable to give your business a popular, left wing name. I had the idea to call it “O Poeta”. No-one liked the idea, and my friends told me I`d be doomed to failure”, he recalls. “When I opened, there was a revolution in Portugal and the banks all closed for a week. Because of this, my first clients – none of whom I knew – didn`t have any money, or any way of cashing money. But, in the end, everyone paid what they owed me, and some still visit me today”, he adds.

What distinguishes Fernando Baralba is that he never gave up his passion for books, for writing and for culture. He established himself professionlly – but instead of dedicating his life to consumption and futility, he worked away at his dream. “ In my youth, I lived in Nazaré and I saw the fishermen looking at the sea as if they were expecting Death. I thought, life can`t be just this – and so began to diversify my interests”, he explains.

The “Museum” on the EN 125 is not unique. At home in Mosqueira, Albufeira, Baralba has another with around 2.000 painted tiles. Soon he plans to transfer them all to a new “Museu do Poeta” at Poço Partido,Carvoeiro – A property he purchsed recently (via the “Algarve 123”).

If you want to see the museum yourself, call in advance to fix a time on 915231958. There is no charge for admission.

Life and Culture VIVALGARVE 07/05/2009

Text in Portuguese by Bruno Filipe Pires

Translations: Natasha - Donn and Ursula Boger (English and German)

Having in consideration that the “POETA`S MUSEUM I” at road 125, Fontainhas, may be closed, we suggest to visit the “POETA`S MUSEUM II at Quinta do Poeta , Mosqueira, Albufeira; where there are about 2000 tiles with thoughts in Portuguese and in English as well as two sculptures and some tile works hand made by the founder of the museum and by his wife Cidália and you can get there the books written by Fernando Baralba, the founder of the two“museums”.

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- EXCURSIONS -

To visit the “POETA`S MUSEUM” at road 125, Fontainhas, Albufeira, it is advisable to make reservations.