New Museum of Carnival Masks
Spanish and Portuguese masks and costumes are displayed in Braganca
Northern Portugal and the region of Zamora in Spain share a tradition of colorful carnival celebrations that are shown in a bright new museum.
If it were not for the cordiality and warmth of people all over Portugal, it would be tempting to say that the people of Braganca are the most hospitable hosts anywhere. They not only go out of their way to befriend a stranger – even one whose fluency in Portuguese is at the kindergarten level – but they take pleasure in it, as though they had begun their day wishing to find someone to make welcome.
The charming young woman at the new mask museum there may take part of her lunch hour to keep the museum open for travelers who arrive only minutes before the midday closing.
The people are not the only reason to travel to the far north of Portugal to visit Braganca.
The city is important in Portuguese history as the seat to the house of Braganca, which ruled the country from the mid 1600s to the beginning of the 20th century. Its castle is well preserved, with encircling walls that visitors can walk for views of the city. Inside the castle walls are several fascinating sights, including a stone pig – one of several of these curious and enigmatic animals found in northern Portugal -- and a Medieval council chamber built over a cistern. It is the only one of its kind on the entire of the Iberian peninsula.
Beside it is a church with a splendid painted ceiling, and several other churches in the old town below have exceptional features – painted ceilings, gold-covered altars, carved wood choir stalls and polychrome statues.
While all these attractions illuminate the history of the Brangaca region, the newest museum – opened in 2007 – centers around a cultural phenomenon that is still very much alive. The new Museu Iberico da Mascara (museum of Iberian masks) shows the bright and imaginative carnival costumes that make the pre-lenten celebrations of Portugal and Spain famous through out the world.
Not only masks, but full costumes are displayed in well-lighted rooms, with maps and other information to locate and interpret them. The lower floor is dedicated to northern Portuguese carnivals and the next to those celebrated in the neighboring Zamora region of Spain. Costumes range from representational to purely fantastic, all with masks and most in vibrant colors.
Perhaps the most colorful of all are those of Podence, about 20 miles south of Braganca, where on Shrove Tuesday the streets are filed with men and boys in costumes covered in rows of brightly colored fringe. All the costumes include masks, and the third level of the museum explores the masks and the craftspeople that make them. The variety of materials is enormous, from clay and woven grass to carved wood.
The museum, like the castle ramparts, the council chamber and the art-filled churches are free, and just below the castle gate is a tiny tourist office with a most helpful staff. Here they will point out the city’s attractions and advise tourists on things to see and do elsewhere in northern Portugal.
