The many moons I have seen wax and wane marked a constant learning. And introspective reflection on what we are and what we could be, and where, from time to time, we hear the echo of venerable instances of self-esteem and awareness of the extent to which power emanates from desire.
One of those moons witnessed my debut, at the dawn of adolescence, as philatelic apprentice. In illustrated postcards portraying a people with history, heroes, and feats, where the ethnographic aspect, the cultural and identifying root of the people who – as the poem goes ”wash in the river and carve their coffins” was abundantly depicted, in these stamps that travelled around the world I saw myself reflected and, with them, I found my own becoming.
Revisiting that strong image of the horseman, who marks his arrival by blowing his iconic bugle, we become aware of the now very consolidated extent to which CTT are the coffer or vault holding the real treasures of the Portuguese way of life.
This time it was the Barroso region (Montalegre and Boticas) to have been honoured to enter this legendary museum into which the valiant creatives of CTT have transformed such an emblematic institution. With this stamp issue, Portugal and the world will have a glimpse of this stunning rural area and better understand the reasons why the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) has distinguished us as the only region of Portugal with a World Agricultural Heritage classification.
This honour from the FAO, now taking shape as a stamp issue, is the best tribute that all those committed to the cause can give to the men and women who, over time, have forged this admirable union between the Barroso region and nature and its inhabitants, making it the responsibility of each and every one of us to preserve and promote it as a model to be replicated in other places.
Manuel Orlando Fernandes Alves
President of the Municipal Council of Montalegre
