Daniel Bastos takes Portuguese emigration memorials to Brussels

This work explores, through photography and historical research, the material memory of Portuguese emigration.

Conceived by diaspora historian Daniel Bastos in partnership with photographer Luís Carvalhido, the book is the result of a pioneering survey of monuments dedicated to emigrants across Portugal’s 18 mainland districts and the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores.

Diaspora historian Daniel Bastos

The presentation will take place at 3pm at La Petite Portugaise bookshop, a leading Brussels venue for promoting the Portuguese language and culture, and will be presented by Susana Pratt, co-founder and director of the bookshop.

Published bilingually in Portuguese and English, with translation by Paulo Teixeira, the book features a foreword by philosopher and writer Onésimo Teotónio Almeida and an afterword by migration sociologist Maria Beatriz Rocha-Trindade. The work offers a journey through the presence of the emigrant figure in Portuguese memory and heritage.

Through a richly illustrated itinerary, Monumentos ao Emigrante travels across every region of the country and introduces readers to more than a hundred monuments, including busts, statues and memorials, commemorating those who left and bearing witness to the importance emigration has assumed in Portugal’s contemporary history.

More than a heritage inventory, the book offers an interpretation of how Portuguese society has represented and inscribed in public spaces the experience of departure, work, absence, return and the building of new lives beyond the country’s borders. These monuments therefore constitute an important material source for understanding the history of Portuguese emigration and the scale of the Portuguese diaspora spread across the four corners of the world.

The presentation in Brussels, which is open to the community, also carries particular significance in recognising the importance of the Portuguese community in Belgium, one of the largest and most dynamic Portuguese communities in Europe. There are currently around 70,000 Portuguese citizens in Belgium, alongside a sizeable population of people of Portuguese descent.

The presentation at La Petite Portugaise, an essential meeting place for promoting Portuguese language, culture and identity in the Belgian capital, also marks the conclusion, in Europe, of a cycle of presentations of a work which, since its launch in 2025, has brought the memory of Portuguese emigration to different parts of the diaspora.

In the foreword, Onésimo Teotónio Almeida, Emeritus Professor at Brown University and one of the most respected voices in the study and reflection on Portuguese identity, highlights the strength of the book’s visual dimension:

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, here we have two hundred and fifty thousand beautiful words leaping into view with striking eloquence.”

Meanwhile, Maria Beatriz Rocha-Trindade, author of an extensive body of work devoted to migration, highlights the publication’s contribution to historical knowledge in her afterword:

“This book makes a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the History of Portugal.”

With institutional support from the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities and the Lisbon Geographical Society, Monumentos ao Emigrante – Uma Homenagem à História da Emigração Portuguesa establishes itself as a work of memory, heritage and identity, bringing into dialogue the Portugal of departure with the Portugal of today and with its vast diaspora spread throughout the world.