Saudade

According to the dictionary ‘saudade’ means a nostalgic and gentle rememberance of people or things that are distant, or of past events. Being something one can feel rather than see or touch saudade is not something easy to define, it can’t be immediately translated to English or other language. Even though, Almeida Jr, a brilliant Brazilian painter has defined it very accurately in the famous painting bellow: ‘Saudade’.

José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior (8 May 1850 – 13 November 1899) was a Brazilian painter of the 19th century. He is widely regarded as the most important Brazilian realist painter of the 19th century, and a major inspiration for the modernist painters. While most Brazilian academic artists made their fame painting mythological or historical subjects, Almeida Junior would become popular for painting rural figures, especially farmers and the caipira violeiro [1], the countrymen that are a kind of a symbol of the rural areas of the São Paulo state.

You can learn more on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ferraz_de_Almeida_J%C3%BAnior . If you happen to be in São Paulo, you must visit Pinacoteca, where this and other of his paintings are exhibited. It is very close to ‘Luz’ tube station where you can also find ‘Museu da Língua Portuguesa’ (The Portuguese Language Museum).

Take a look at the site http://www.pinacoteca.org.br/pinacoteca/

Other painting that reminds me a lot about ‘Saudade’ was sent to me by Professor Amos Paran and is called New York Movie, by Edward Hopper.

You can find more information on Edward Hopper on http://www.edwardhopper.net/newyork-movie.jsp. It is impressive how in both paintings the same feeling of ‘saudade’ can be expressed without words.

MUSEU DA PESSOA

The Museums of the Person are virtual museums that collect, preserve and share life stories for social change. To be a Museum of the Person is to be locally responsible for the democratization of social memory and for the dissemination of the local life stories in a global level. The Museum of the Person’s international network links individuals and groups through authoring and sharing life stories. Museums of the Person are located in Brazil , Portugal , the USA , and Canada.

Visit the site and tell your story http://www.museudapessoa.net/ingles/index.htm

The Royal Game of Ur

Board games are not a privilege of modern times. The royal game of ur is dated from 2600 and 2400 BC. Many boards were found at the Royal Tombs of Ur in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)  in September 1922 by the  British archaeologist Leonard Woolley among other treasures. The rules of the game could be decoded by ancient writings. A project was designed for the British Museum in London by Odessa Design (photo). The idea is to engage the public into playing  http://www.odessadesign.co.uk/bmgame.htm

For more information you can visit also http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/tombs/story/sto_set.html and http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/worldhistory/royal_game_of_ur/

If you visit London, you must go to the British Museum, it worth at least a 3 hour visit. You can have an idea of what waiting you  by  visiting the site http://www.britishmuseum.org/. The admission is free.

Sherlock Holmes Museum

                                        Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John H. Watson lived at 221b Baker Street between 1881-1904, according to the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The house is protected by the government due to its “special architectural and historical interest”, while the 1st floor study overlooking Baker Street is still faithfully maintained for posterity as it was kept in Victorian Times.

http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/

The Foundling Museum

What impressed me  most was to listen to some of these kids testimonial about their lives at the Foundling Hospital,http://foundlingvoices.foundlingmuseum.org.uk/

The Foundling Hospital, which continues today as the children’s charity Coram, was established by Royal Charter in 1739, after a long struggle by Captain Thomas Coram (1668-1751). Coram was a successful shipwright and sailor who had returned to England to retire after a life’s work in the New World of America.  Coram had been appalled by the discarded and dying children in the streets of London and spent seventeen years campaigning for the establishment of a Foundling Hospital.

Florence Nightingale Museum

Visiting this museum was very special to me as I am mother of a nurse. Most of facts about Florence Nightingale’s life I had already learned from my daughter since her graduation days. My daughter and also Florence have taught me how persistent and committed people nurses are.

‘Florence Nightingale became a living legend as the ‘Lady with the Lamp’. She led the nurses caring for thousands of soldiers during the Crimean War and helped save the British army from medical disaster.

This was just one of Florence’s many achievements. She was also a visionary health reformer, a brilliant campaigner, the most influential woman in Victorian Britain and its Empire, second only to Queen Victoria herself.’

Visit the site and find out more.