The Expression of Freedom

Throughout Portugal's history, there is one deeply rooted art form that stands the test of times -
our "azulejo". We gaze with astonishment at tiles and tile panels featuring various decorative patterns, alluding to customs, traditions, depictions of historical events, religious motifs, and landscapes, dating back to the legacy inherited from Moorish times. This legacy holds a significant place in Portuguese culture and architecture to this day, since tiles have been used for centuries to express the Portuguese way of life, with decorative purposes as well as practical functions, if we think about how important it is for a southern country to control temperature inside homes or maintain walls clean and protected. This practical function is even more relevant today in the Climate Change we are now witnessing.

Pivotal for the conception of our mural were two guiding lines. First, seeking to honour that special
Portuguese material heritage, which is timeless and represents a unique legacy, as much as it honours our multicultural history. Secondly, while honoring and combining the form, we wanted to make our children bring their immaterial heritage to the front, in a way that would resound to them and make sense in their own timeline, how their heritage is embedded and can be shared, while current European and world events shape their futures. Comprised under the motto "Expression of Freedom", our immaterial heritage – Freedom – is inextricably routed into the Portuguese way of thinking as well as its history. Apart from Portugal, the children involved in making the mural come from multicultural backgrounds such as Italy, Germany, UK and Ireland, Finland, Spain but also Ucraine, Timor, China, India, Brasil, and Bolivia. Common to all of them and their present lives is the freedom they share in expressing themselves. It is this freedom
in diversity that we believe to be routed in the history we, as Portuguese, share with other European nations since the time of the Portuguese Age of Discoveries and its maritime expeditions 5 centuries ago, contacting with other countries and nations, enabling a fusion of diverse influences and heritages.

Our children's tile mural began from a blank sheet of paper, where inanimate lines, and shapes
where brought to life and expression through color, reflecting each child’s interpretation of the value of “Freedom of Expression”, as their own immaterial heritage. This concept sparked the students’ imagination and creative freedom, while the ancestral tile technique and the Portuguese traditional ceramic glaze maintain simultaneously a strong connection to the material dimension of their cultural heritage. Out of lines, shapes and colours, each child interpreted their very own "Freedom of Expression", coming to life through the means of a universal symbol, a flying bird. All individual birds were then assembled on the mural, in one communal flight, each one seeming to have an individual route within the collective. During the school year, the children also learnt several poems dedicated to the expression of freedom that Portugal regained through the Revolution 50 years ago, so each child picked the one word that most represented, for them, the idea of being able to express freely. These words were drawn next to their birds, in their several own languages, as if they are flying but also chanting to each other about what makes them
feel free.

The entire process turned this collaborative work into a perfect educational tool and pedagogical
inspiration, leading the Educational Community as a whole to work closely with two National Museums – The National Museum of Azulejo in Lisbon, where the collective artwork was created and publically exhibited from November 17th onward, as well as the Tapestry Museum – Guy Fino in Portalegre, where this unique Mural masterpiece was inaugurated and presented for the first time on August 31st, on the occasion of the cultural biennale “III Encontros de Cultura do Alto Alentejo 20|30: Mural da História 1974-2024, 50 years of Free Speech”.
 

This pioneering initiative, launched by the European Cooperation Project DiVA’s – Digital and
Immaterial Village’s Archives, was coordinated by the Arquivo Digital e Imaterial da Comenda in Alto Alentejo, Portugal (NUTS III – PT186) and inscribed in the Official Programme of EHD’s 2024, under the theme: Routes, Networks and Connections, as well as, on the celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of the Portuguese Democratic Revolution on the 25th of April 1974, under the Official Patronage of His Excellency the President of the Portuguese Republic.

The Mural is made of 260 traditional Portuguese 14x14cm tiles, sponsored by Aleluia Ceramics in
Aveiro, and hand-painted by the 3rd grade pupils of Queen Elizabeth's School – Fundação Denise Lester in Lisbon, during the academic year of 2023/24 (Classes E3/Q3), in a fruitful partnership with the National Museum of Azulejo in Lisbon. The mural is already lovingly known within the Museum as "The Bird Panel".

The main purpose of the classwork was to raise awareness of the importance of cultural heritage,
exploring the specific contribution of artistic creation to freedom of expression as a fundamental right. It also aimed to educate about the richness of cultural diversity at international, European, national, regional, and local levels, discovering Routes, Networks, and Connections that shape Europe’s shared history and identity, from ancient times to the digital era. This was a unique opportunity for children to learn more about their historical and cultural roots, express their creativity, and become active participants in sharing and preserving heritage for insightful discussions and intercultural dialogue in safeguarding Europe’s cultural treasures as common heritage.

We firmly believe that the mural and how it was mentored expresses per se to what extend this
candidature submission entitled “Expression of Freedom” values and respects human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, human rights, the rule of law, safeguarding democracy, pluralism, and the importance of protecting minorities, citizenship, and meaningful engagement with civil society.

Let us celebrate the cultural heritage of our young Democracy, our values of freedom, our
countless departures and arrivals throughout the globe, redesigning new routes and networks in the digital era, as Vasco da Gama and Luís Vaz de Camões did through science and literature 500 years ago…
 

And let us join our bird's flight, freely!

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Making of the candidate to Young European Heritage Makers 2025 Award

(Supporting Material – Technical Sheet)

Title: The Expression of Freedom | A Expressão da Liberdade Heritage Makers: 36 pupils of the Queen Elizabeth's School 3rd grade (academic year 2023/24).

Duration: 5:00 min.

Partners & Sponsors: Queen Elizabeth's School – Fundação Denise Lester | Museu Nacional do Azulejo | Museu da Tapeçaria de Portalegre – Guy Fino | Aleluia Cerâmicas | Clube Castelanense

Coordination: European Cooperation Consortium DiVA's – Digital and Immaterial Village's Archives | Arquivo Digital e Imaterial da Comenda – ADIC

Facilitators: Misses Ana Nunes, Alejandra Logioio, Alison Pereira, Anum Jamil, Liliana Godinho, Madalena Pais and Sílvia Alves

Acknowledgments: Ana Silveira (E4 class), Laura Ruffinelli (Q4 class), Sérgio Miguéns and Stella Perdigão

Production: SP Audiovisuais

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