The Lacerda 120 exhibition

Abstract

Held in the house lived in by Armando de Lacerda, which has been owned by the family for over 120 years, the exhibition also tells us much about Lacerda’s family life, including a collection of his documents from the family archive, held by his grandson, Paulo de Lacerda, who in recent years has grown the archive with the addition of the António Almeida fund, donated by himself, and the Göran Hammarström fund, donated by his daughter Marika Hammarström. The fact that the exhibition portrays Lacerda’s professional and family life does not preclude the notion of the global responsibility of the project, and the curators decided to invite Irina Kostyuk from Ukraine to bear witness to the importance of the “Sharing European Histories” project (EuroClio; Evens Foundation), which demonstrates to groups of schoolchildren the importance of the “Lacerda polychromograph” as an example of how, even during a period of nationalism and authoritarianism such as the 1930s, when the instrument was invented, it was possible to establish bridges and a dialogue between scientists from a number of countries living under different political regimes.