Azinhaga Delegation

The Azinhaga Delegation carries in its spirit the epigraph of The Small Memories highlighting José Saramago's relationship with his native village, with his maternal grandparents Jerónimo and Josefa, and how he developed as a writer until he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998. At the entrance to the Delegation, the epigraph reads "Let yourself be carried away by the child you once were" and there is a portrait of José Saramago as a child by the Spanish artist Emilio Fornieles.

The exhibition space is divided into two sections:“José Saramago's cocoon”"From Azinhaga to the World" and "From Azinhaga to the World," which present photographs, documents, books, and some objects. The first section tells the story of the family surname, shares verses by grandmother Josefa, presents photographs of Zezito's childhood and of the "river of his village," accompanied by texts about the Almonda River. It is also in this "magical cocoon" that we can see the original bed of his maternal grandparents, restored and donated by the Azinhaga Parish Council. In the second section, we discover how José Saramago developed, as a reader at the Galveias Library, as a translator of more than 50 titles from French, as an editor at Estúdios Cor, and as a columnist in the more than a dozen publications with which he collaborated. We also find his first contract with Portugália Editora, his complete bibliography published by Porto Editora with his 42 books, with particular emphasis on his autobiography, The Small Memories. The moment of the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998, and the establishment of the Foundation, his last legacy, are also revisited in this exhibition space.

The Delegation also includes a shop and a multidisciplinary space that hosts temporary exhibitions related to the Founder and the Foundation's mission, namely the dissemination of literature, the defense of human rights and the environment, taking the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a guiding document.

By the Founder's wish, in 2008, the Azinhaga Delegation was created, initially in the old prison, in Largo da Praça, where the statue of José Saramago by Armando Ferreira is located, and, in 2017, it was then installed in an old primary school dating from 1937, with an architectural project by Raúl Lino, and where it is now located in Largo das Divisões.

1. On the A1, take exit 6 towards Torres Novas.
2. 1.5km later, exit towards Torres Novas / Porto de Mós, entering the N3.
3. On the N3, follow the Torres Novas signs.
4. About 4.5 km later, passing through Póvoa de Santarém.
5. After about 3.5 km, take the exit for Alcanhões, entering the N365 to follow until the final destination.
6. 2 km later, in Alcanhões, turn left towards Golegã.
7. 400m later, turn right towards Golegã / Pombalinho / Vale de Figueira.
8. After 3.5 km, in Vale Figueira, turn left towards Golegã.
9. 700m later, turn right towards Pombalinho / Golegã.
10. About 7.8 km later, at Pombalinho, turn right towards Golegã
11. 200m later, turn left towards Golegã.
12. About 2km later, arrival at the destination: Azinhaga.
Estimated time from Lisbon → Azinhaga: about 70 minutes.