As lavadeiras do Mondego e a dignidade do instante: duas leituras sobre a questão do património

Abstract

Drawing on a comment raised by an ethnographic reenactment of the barrela (method for bleaching laundry) used by the washerwomen of River Mondego, an activity which is still part of our living memory as it only came to an end in mid 20th century, this article draws attention to the contemporary state of our heritage, to the etymological meaning of this concept and, above all, to the temporal and spatial limits of such assets to which the communities attribute heritage status. Two texts have been fundamental for this analysis: one by Fernando Távora, A lição das constantes; and the other by Manfredo Tafuri, La dignitá dell’attimo. Both the reenactment and these texts have contributed to making a critical analysis of the situation that the contemporary world is confronted with when managing the heritage.