Terreiro

A place of eternal departures and just as many arrivals.

It was a space of bonfires and sacrifices, it fell with the earthquake only to be reborn as we know it, and there Carlos and his heir faced republican bullets.

A symbol of figurative power, it has seen many convulsions and countless demonstrations, as diverse as the history of the Terreiro itself, and in April 1974 the revolution also passed through here.

Watched over, night and day, by José, the "Reformer," indifferent to the serpents his horse is treading on, the Terreiro has transformed into a place of encounter and life.

Those crossing the Tagus River pass through it, indifferent to the space and to those who occupy it. Police officers and the occasional smuggler pass by, mixed with many tourists who make the Terreiro the epicenter of their journey, whether fleeting or prolonged.

Countless selfies, photos, interviews, and staged recordings take place here, transforming each moment into perpetuated memories.

We see couples and families, lovers and friends,

groups of strangers, bicycles and scooters and suitcases tired of traveling, all aligned in a purpose of reaching the river.

We see people, many people, and in each life there is a destiny, a gaze that, passing through the Terreiro, landed.

These photos were obtained through a cell phone, from a balcony door in the west wing of Terreiro do Paço, between October 26, 2019 and September 30, 2022 (period of the XXII Government of Portugal), a space that, curiously, was the office occupied by Salazar while he was Minister of Finance (1928 to 1932).