Forbidden words

The stops

1. 1

   Stop 1: “Obviously, I’ll sack him!”

   Praça D. Pedro IV (Rossio), Lisboa — número de polícia por confirmar

   Today: A Caixa Geral de Depósitos bank branch

   

   On 10 May 1958, on the first floor of the Café Chave d’Ouro, in the Rossio, the candidacy of General Humberto Delgado for the Presidency of the Republic was presented to the press, the foreign press included. He was asked what he would do with Salazar if he were elected. “Obviously, I’ll sack him!” (Obviamente, demito-o!) — the answer set the country alight and defined the campaign.²³

   The café, founded in 1919 and a meeting place for the opposition, made way for a bank branch in 1961.⁴

   • 10 May 1958Humberto Delgado: “Obviously, I’ll sack him!” (Obviamente, demito-o!)
   • 16 May 1958Humberto Delgado arrives at Santa Apolónia
   Casa Comum – Fundação Mário Soares e Maria Barroso · Photograph · 10 May 1958Candidatura de Humberto Delgado à Presidência da RepúblicaA reproduction of a photograph of the press conference at which Humberto Delgado presented his candidacy for the Presidency, at the Café Chave d’Ouro. It belongs to the Historical Archive of the Socialist Party.Open in the archive
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   To stop 2130 m · 5 min on footDirections

2. 2

   Stop 2: The dissidents’ café

   Praça D. Pedro IV, 64 (Rossio), com entrada também pela Rua 1.º de Dezembro, 1100-201 Lisboa

   Today: Gelo, a seafood restaurant since 2024

   

   Between 1957 and 1962, a group of writers and artists that at one point numbered almost thirty met at the Café Gelo: Natália Correia, Herberto Helder, Mário Cesariny, Luiz Pacheco, António José Forte, Manuel de Lima and Pedro Oom, among others. What they had in common, Hélder Macedo later explained, was “an attitude of dissidence, of refusing to collude” — in politics, in social mores, in sex.⁵

   The meetings ended in 1962. According to Wikipedia, on May Day (1 May) that year, during the demonstration that was put down in the Baixa, riot police entered the café and beat the people inside, and the group was banned from returning.⁵

   What you can see today

   According to Wikipedia (an unsourced passage), a plaque by the door on the Rossio side sums up the café’s history, recalling the regicide and the opposition to Salazar’s regime — to be confirmed on site.

   • 1 May 1962May Day 1962 in Lisbon’s Baixa
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   To stop 3210 m · 5 min on footDirections

3. 3

   Stop 3: “We see, we hear and we read”

   Largo de São Domingos, 1169-060 Lisboa

   Today: Church of São Domingos

   

   On the night of 31 December 1968, after Cardinal Cerejeira’s Mass, more than a hundred Catholics stayed on in this church in a vigil against the colonial war, until six in the morning of the World Day of Peace. For that night, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen wrote the “Cantata da Paz” (Cantata of Peace), which Francisco Fanhais sang: “We see, we hear and we read / We cannot ignore” (Vemos, ouvimos e lemos / Não podemos ignorar).⁶

   • 31 Dec 1968Vigil for peace in the Church of São Domingos
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   To stop 4400 m · 5 min on footDirections

4. 4

   Stop 4: The hall that sang “Grândola”

   Rua das Portas de Santo Antão, 92-104, 1150-268 Lisboa

   Today: Coliseu dos Recreios

   

   On 29 March 1974 the 1st Portuguese Song Meeting (I Encontro da Canção Portuguesa) filled the Coliseu, with the PIDE/DGS and the censors in the hall taking notes. Censorship had banned dozens of songs.⁷ José Afonso sang “Grândola, Vila Morena” (Grândola, swarthy town), the hall sang with him, and at the end thousands of people shouted “Down with repression!” (abaixo a repressão!).⁸

   Less than a month later, the same song went out on the radio as the signal for the revolution.

   • 29 Mar 1974I Encontro da Canção Portuguesa no Coliseu
   • 25 Apr 1974«Grândola, Vila Morena» na Rádio Renascença confirma a revolução

   Coro da Casa da Achada e populares cantam «Grândola, Vila Morena» no 25 de Abril de 2023, em LisboaWikimedia Commons · 25 April 2023 · 00:59

   Casa Comum – Fundação Mário Soares e Maria Barroso · Photograph · 29 March 1974I Encontro da Canção PortuguesaA photograph by Carlos Gil of José Afonso at the 1st Portuguese Song Meeting (I Encontro da Canção Portuguesa), at the Coliseu dos Recreios. The meeting also brought together Ary dos Santos, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Manuel Freire and Fausto, among others.Open in the archive
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   To stop 51.2 km · 20 min on footDirections

5. 5

   Stop 5: The prize that closed the writers’ house

   Rua da Escola Politécnica, 20, 1.º Esq., 1250 Lisboa

   

   In May 1965, a jury of the Portuguese Society of Writers — Alexandre Pinheiro Torres, Augusto Abelaira, Fernanda Botelho, João Gaspar Simões and Manuel da Fonseca — gave the Grand Prize for Fiction to Luuanda, by José Luandino Vieira, who was imprisoned at Tarrafal for his links to the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).⁹

   On 21 May the Minister of National Education dissolved the Society. That night its headquarters, on the first floor of No. 20 on this street, were broken into and ransacked by “unknown persons” backed by the PIDE, who left a sign at the door: “Terrorists’ agency in the Metropole” (Agência dos terroristas na Metrópole). Three of the jurors were arrested; Fernanda Botelho, the only woman on the jury, was questioned.⁹¹⁰

   • 21 May 1965The Portuguese Society of Writers is dissolved and its headquarters raided
   Casa Comum – Fundação Mário Soares e Maria Barroso · Document · 15 May 1962Abaixo-assinado de membros da Sociedade Portuguesa de EscritoresThe petition in which members of the Portuguese Society of Writers express their solidarity with the student associations in the academic crisis of 1962. It is one page, from the Ângelo Sajara collection.Open in the archive
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   To stop 6650 m · 10 min on footDirections

6. 6

   Stop 6: “From woman to woman”

   Rua de O Século, 63, 1200-433 Lisboa

   Today: Palácio Lançada, Rua de O Século

   

   This palace housed the newspaper O Século (The Century). In 1908 Virgínia Quaresma, one of the first Portuguese women reporters, joined its newsroom.¹¹ Twenty years later, Maria Lamas took charge of its supplement Modas e Bordados (Fashions and Embroidery), written “from woman to woman”; in 1930 she organised the exhibition “Portuguese Women” (Mulheres Portuguesas) here, under the slogan “Let us be intelligently women” (Sejamos inteligentemente mulheres).¹²¹³

   In 1947 the regime forced her to choose between the magazine and the National Council of Portuguese Women, which she chaired. She chose the Council.¹⁴

   • 1928Maria Lamas takes over “Modas & Bordados”
   • 17 May 1930Maria Lamas organises the exhibition “Mulheres Portuguesas” (Portuguese Women)
   RTP Arquivos · Video · broadcast on 31 August 1974 · 50 minMaria LamasA portrait of Maria Lamas in the series “Nome Mulher” (Name: Woman), by Maria Antónia Palla and Antónia de Sousa, with interviews in Torres Novas and in the newsroom of “Modas e Bordados” (Fashions and Embroidery) at “O Século”, and footage of Caxias prison. She talks about presiding over the National Council of Portuguese Women and its closure, about prison and about what 25 April meant.Open in the archive
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   To stop 7600 m · 10 min on footDirections

7. 7

   Stop 7: The newspaper that did not send its proofs

   Rua da Misericórdia, 116, 1200-271 Lisboa

   

   At No. 116 Rua da Misericórdia stood República, the daily of the democratic opposition — almost opposite the censorship office, which had been working at No. 125 since 1969.¹⁵ Two of its journalists, Álvaro Guerra and Carlos Albino, put the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) in touch with the radio programme that would broadcast the signal for the revolution.¹⁷¹⁵

   On 25 April 1974 its editor, Raul Rego, refused to send the proofs to the “Prior Examination”. The paper came out with a line at the foot of the front page: “This newspaper has not been vetted by any Censorship Commission” (Este jornal não foi visado por qualquer Comissão de Censura).¹⁵

   • 26 Apr 1974Assalto popular à sede da censura
   RTP Arquivos · Video · broadcast on 20 May 1975 · 48 minSituação no jornal “República” em LisboaThe offices of the newspaper “República” occupied by the print workers, with soldiers from the Continental Operations Command (COPCON) at the door and a Socialist Party (PS) demonstration in support of the management. Raul Rego watches from the balcony, Manuel Alegre tries to address the crowd, and copies of the paper are burnt.Open in the archive
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   To stop 8270 m · 5 min on footDirections

8. 8

   Stop 8: The first woman reporter

   Rua do Norte, 3 (esquina com a Praça de Luís de Camões), Lisboa

   

   In 1910 Virgínia Quaresma moved to A Capital (The Capital), the republican evening daily whose newsroom was at No. 3 Rua do Norte, on this corner; she went to live right opposite.¹¹ It was A Capital that, on 29 April 1911, printed the ruling that ordered Carolina Beatriz Ângelo to be registered as a voter, and called it “a victory for national feminism”.¹⁸

   In August that year, Virgínia told the paper that she loved her profession and wanted to see other women earning their living in journalism.¹¹

   • 28 Apr 1911Court ruling orders Carolina Beatriz Ângelo to be registered as a voter
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