This exhibition, held in the geographical area of the Azorean archipelago, brings together a set of original photographs, captured by several amateur and professional photographers, aims to contribute to a better understanding of the heritage of Franciscans, in particular the Order of Friars Minor (OFM) in the Azorean islands in the period of the 15th to the 19th century.

In the Azores the religious dynamics was fundamental in the construction of places, institutions, habits, affections and devotions. In the set of catholic influences the presence of Religious Orders, particularly the OFM, was recorded since the beginning of the insular settlement and followed the adventures and misfortunes of the first groups of settlers

Over the course of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries the Friars Minor Order built eighteen Franciscan convents scattered across all the islands of the archipelago, with the exception of Corvo Island.

Before the extinction of Religious Men Order, in 1834, and the correlative process of nationalization of its assets, the conventual patrimony was being target of several reuses by secular authorities. In the case of the Azores the convents dedicated to men were adapted to public services, of various kinds, over the 19th and 20th centuries without ever having been, in general, the intention to record historically the Franciscan heritage that defined the multiple places that were, meanwhile, laicized.

Organization

CHAM / NOVA FCSH

CMRG

Museu Vivo Franciscanismo / CMRG