Celebrating 500 years since the birth of Luís de Camões is an act of will. The decision to mark this milestone was made by the Portuguese government, which established a Mission Structure.
Aiming to interpret this commitment, the Structure will work to mobilise the national community. Through a variety of initiatives, it will also consider Portuguese men and women living abroad. Everyone recognises the poet as a unifying figure and his work as a source of deep identity.
Echoes of Luís de Camões (1525-1580) pass from generation to generation. They are memory and create memory. They are heritage and form part of living culture. The poet is the most unifying figure in Portuguese culture.
Through his unmistakable profile and through some of his texts, we become familiar with the poet in school. Between the ages of 14 and 16, students memorise sonnets and redondilhas; they learn about Inês de Castro, the Old Man of Restelo and Adamastor. They engage with Bacchus, Venus and other figures from Latin mythology, which the writer reinvented. They dream of the island of loves and live in hope for the better Humanity expressed in his work.