Inaugurated in Vietnam, a photographic exhibit that brings Porto and Ho Chi Minh together
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As part of the collaboration relations and cooperation process between the cities of Porto and Ho Chi Minh, the photography exhibit “Arquitetura Portuguesa por Fernando Guerra” was organized and recently opened in the Vietnamese city.
The exhibit has the support of Porto City Hall – which was represented by the councillor for Finance, Economic Activities and Supervision and Economy, Employment and Entrepreneurship, Ricardo Valente – as well as the Ho Chi Minh City Hall, and the Embassy of Vietnam.
Shown at the Instituto Cultural Francês (Idecaf), in Ho Chi Minh, the exhibit is curated by Emanuel Barbosa and is promoted by ACPT - Associação Cultural Portuguesa and Thuan Viet. Fernando Guerra is a pioneer in the way of photographing and communicating architecture, and six of his photographs are part of the permanent collection of MOMA (Museum of Modern Art, in New York).
The exhibit was supported by Porto City Hall, which sees this initiative as a way to bring closer the cities of Porto and Ho Chi Minh – which will reach its peak in February next – by the Ho Chi Minh City Hall, namely through its Department of Foreign Affairs, and by the ambassador of Vietnam in Portugal, Dinh Toan Thang, who was recently in Porto.
This is the first initiative integrated within the scope of “The Portuguese Project” and “The Vietnam Project: Created in Vietnam”, initiatives that these two organizations intend to promote between both countries, and between the cities of Porto and Ho Chi Minh, in the areas of culture, economy, education (with the universities of both cities) and tourism.
It is also an objective to promote sports relations, in cooperation with FC Porto, not only in football but also in billiard, a modality in which Vietnam and FC Porto are among the best in the world.
The historical relations between Portugal and Vietnam are more than 500 years old (in 2015 was celebrated the 500th anniversary).
In 1617, Francisco de Pina, a Jesuit Priest arrived Hoi An and was the first European to speak Vietnamese fluently. Pina pioneered the method of writing Vietnamese with Latin letters, which formed the basis of the modern Vietnamese alphabet. It was his famous disciple, Alexander Rhodes who published, in 1651, the first trilingual dictionary between Vietnamese, Portuguese and Latin.