Culture & Ethnography - Remarkable People- João de Barros

Monument in honour of Joao de Barros

In the square to the Praia do Norte, was built a monument in honour of the poet and publicist Joao de Barros.

The poet was a lover of the sea, especially the Atlantic Ocean and spent various summers in Santa Cruz. On these stopovers he spread his culture and ideas on humanity and fraternity, thereby making great friendships.

João de Barros trusted and had faith in the destiny of our people, loved everything that was Portuguese. His poetry translated the states of the soul based on elevated values: the sincerity and virtues of the spirit of a true man.

The writer Ferreira de Castro wrote a dedication that is engraved on the posterior side of the monument that has the following:

“In the summer a great poet arrived to contemplate the Atlantic from above the cliffs. Dedicating his life to uniting even more the soul of Portugal to that of Brasil, through the sea he so dearly loved since a boy. In his work of brilliant beauty singing freedom, the fraternity, the virtues of man and redeemed future and old slavery. He was called João de Barros and was a model citizen, those that honour eminently the human species."

The poet was born in Figueira da Foz on the 4th of February 1881 and died in Lisbon in 1960.

João de Barros was graduated in 1904 in law by the University of Coimbra. In 1920, he was elected member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras and, in 1925, was nominated Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was an ardent defender of friendly relations between Portugal and Brasil and in 1945 was awarded with the Grã-Cruz do Cruzeiro do Sul.

Did you Know ...

João de Barros dedicated his last years of life to the adaptation of some of the most famous classis texts: “Os Lusiadas” of Luis Vaz de Camões and the “Odisseia” of Homero, among others.

Text: Artur Henriques
Photos: Artur Henriques
Published: 10-May-2005

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