Conceição Palace hosts conference on 100 years of Raul Brandão's journey - Communication

Presidência do Governo Regional

In 2024, when 100 years have passed since writer Raul Brandão's journey and the visit of the Intellectual Mission to the Azores, the Presidency of the Government of the Azores hosts a conference on the subject by journalist, researcher and author Vasco de Medeiros Rosa at the Conceição Palace on June 18 at 6 pm.

Writer Raul Brandão visited the Azores in the summer of 1924, between June and July, on a personal journey in the company of his wife to collect material for a new book.

This journey, his impressions and notes would result in a masterpiece of Portuguese travel literature, "As Ilhas Desconhecidas: Notas e Paisagens" (The Unknown Islands: Notes and Landscapes), published in 1927, which in the following decades, and even to this day, would greatly influence the image that those visiting us have of the Azores.

Brandão's journey coincided, at times, with the visit of the Intellectual Mission to the Azores, also known as the Visit of the Intellectuals, a group of prominent personalities in Portuguese cultural and academic life, who visited all islands of the Azores archipelago between May 27 and June 22, 1924.

Organised by José Bruno Carreiro and the "Correio dos Açores newspaper," of which he was the director, the mission included Antero de Figueiredo (writer), José Leite de Vasconcelos (ethnologist), Teixeira Lopes (sculptor and author of the model of the monument to Antero de Quental, exhibited in the Azores during their stay), Luís de Magalhães (writer and politician), Armindo Monteiro (law professor and expert on economic affairs), Luís de Castro and Manuel de Bragança (professors at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia [agricultural school]), Henrique Trindade Coelho and Joaquim Manso ( press representatives). It also consisted of Oldemiro César, from "O Diário de Notícias" newspaper, Armando Boaventura, from "A Época" newspaper, Armando Boaventura and Francisco Raposo de Oliveira, from "O Século" newspaper, the latter being a native of São Miguel Island.

Vasco Medeiros Rosa, born in Lisbon in 1958, is a renowned author with a vast oeuvre, including five books on Raul Brandão, including "Raul Brandão e os Açores" (published by Companhia das Ilhas in 2019).