Museum of ethnographic miniatures invites the journey to the past

A permanent exhibition of ethnographic miniatures, inaugurated by Floriberto Melo on February 27, 1996, includes hundreds of handcrafted pieces at scale 1:10, which were fully produced by the creator, who died in 2017, at the age of 81.

The pieces, designed with great precision, provide an authentic return to the past and allow to know old craft practices, customs and traditions of the island of São Miguel that have fallen into disuse.

Inside the small building attached to a dwelling house it is possible to appreciate old professions (taneiro, cobbler, carpenter, carpenter, photographer, barber and blacksmith, etc.), a windmill, baby carts, an ananases greenhouse, a winepress, a traditional kitchen, a room of the Holy Spirit, a water-powered mill, a atafona, a classroom and regional costumes. Some scenarios are illuminated and have movement, such as the water mill and the room of the Holy Spirit.

Many old objects (photographographs, graphonolas, telephones, keys, coins, notes, miniature glass bottles, tobacco packs, medals, ballpoints, etc.) and an electric “GingaPlay” with moving objects and puppets (which works with the introduction of a euro coin), among other pieces also designed by the author, who exercised the profession of construction designer, are also displayed.

The miniature sets, which include scenery and their pieces, are numbered and each is associated with a key (using computer keyboards) that, when pressed, illuminates a small rectangular screen on a black background, where a small text appears on it and its context. All the pieces are subtitled in Portuguese, English and French.

According to the family, Floriberto Melo was a multifaceted man, having been head of Boy Scouts, radio amateur, musician and composer, painter, music teacher and cultural animator.

The Ethnographic Corner is for the family Melo a space with history and also affections, because both children and grandchildren accompanied the creative process and the genesis of the small museum.

Everything was done manually with the use of penknifes and those who enter there make “a journey to the past”, guarantees the agency Lusa the son of the author, Joaquim Melo, 63 years old.

“ It's very old stuff, no one else remembers. It's all in the past, there's nothing new. So he built a museum of the past”, he said proud.

For lack of manners, Joaquim never helped his father in the construction of miniatures, but he is the great space janitor: “The only thing I do is maintenance and cleaning. He built it all.”.

“ And it is something that I will not destroy, I will not sell and will stay for future generations ", guarantees.

Joaquim's brother, João, aged 54, was also not surprised by his father's work, because he remembers collecting cameras, tobacco packs and pens.

“And since he was a designer, he was always very good at making models and doing these kinds of things and then he began to evolve and began to recreate the past with these models and with these miniatures,” he recalls.

João Melo is “very proud” in his father’s work, like the whole family, and he did not expect that one day his work would be in everyone’s sight, but remembers that he “always had great pleasure in showing what he was doing, first to friends, and then to acquaintances”.

About the beginnings of the project, you remember one of the first pieces your father made – a carpenter’s bench – “which is many years old”: “When I was a kid, I always enjoyed seeing the detail of the objects there [in the carpenter’s bench].”.

Cristina Andrade, 36 years old, daughter of Joaquim and granddaughter of the founder of Cantinho Ethnográfico also keeps memories of when the grandfather undertook the creative process of miniatures, essentially in wood, having helped him in the construction of the rural set: “I helped my grandfather do the part of the corns that are drying up in the place where they dried up in the old days. I helped make the corn bagels”.

The young woman, whom, as a child, the grandfather asked “not to touch anything”, and is now responsible for the museological space, also does not hide pride in being able to continue to show the legacy publicly.

“[We have received] some tourists, not as many as we would like. Some [inhabitants] places that go by and ask if they can come in and if they can know, but is essentially more tourists than locals”, Lusa reported. The family space has also received visits from students and elderly groups.

Cristina liked that “everyone had the opportunity to know the work” of her grandfather and soon intends to make some improvements in the small museum.

“ We want to keep him in the family, above all, and we want to boost a little more. Without taking away the tradition he has, but putting lights on led, boost a little more so that everyone wants to come visit him, [...] and partner with travel agencies. So, make this be known by anyone who wants to come visit ", admitted.

The family goal is to “maintain and improve” the space, rejecting handing over the estate to any entity: “It’s not what my grandfather wanted, so let’s keep his wish,” he said.

The Ethnographic Corner was inaugurated in 1996 and after the death of Floriberto Melo, in 2017, closed to the public, but reopened the doors in 2020.

The space is located in Travessa das Laranjeiras, in the parish of São Pedro, in Ponta Delgada, has free entrance and can be visited daily by appointment.