How can our Centenary celebrations be given printed form? Our reply to this question, weighted with 100 years of history, is a collection of six thematic volumes. While highlighting this National Monument and its past, the Cadernos do Centenário [Centenary Notebooks] also focus on the history of Teatro São João as a National Theatre. This artistic project, which launched in 1992, receives a memorial overview in the opening volume, O Elogio do Espectador [Praise of the Spectator], a compilation of 100 statements concerning 100 shows. Two other books come under the aegis of this number: we have brought 100 texts from our archives, and we have also selected 100 graphic objects, words and images that have contributed towards the definition of our identity. The building created by Marques da Silva is the subject of a volume we will publish in collaboration with the Instituto da Construção (University of Porto, Faculty of Engineering). Furthermore, we have also invited geographer Álvaro Domingues to write a book on his Teatro São João. Finally, the sixth volume in the collection acts as a sort of catalogue for an exhibition that revisits the history of the building and its uses, as well as its connections to Porto and Portuguese history.
Centenary Notebooks
