COLECÇÃO
JARDINS DA VITÓRIA

Árvores e Plantas provenientes do Bairro da Quinta da Vitória

This garden is constituted by 20 botanical species transplanted from Quinta da Vitoria neighborhood. These plants and trees were originally from Mozambique, Kenya, Cape Verde, Portugal, Angola, Guinea Bissau, and S. Tome and Prince. They were planted by the habitants and after the demolitions, transplanted with the permission of the residents to a public garden near the Quinta da Vitória neighborhood.

This garden is regarded as a conquered territory, a memory repository and a place for cultural preservation. It is a space which can be used by the former residents of Quinta da Vitoria neighborhood, as well as by the local community living nearby.

In the garden, each botanical species has a name tag where testimonials from the habitants are written, interconnecting the use of these species with their life´s history in the Quinta da Vitoria neighborhood.  The Quinta of Vitoria neighborhood was built by its residents and was located between the Lisbon and Loures municipalities, near the Lisbon Airport. It started to be built in the sixties by families coming from the north of Portugal. Following the decolonization process and during the construction of the 1998 World Fair, the neighborhood received a great number of both Indian and African families. At one time the population reached 5000 people. However, in 1993 a Rehousing Special Plan (PER) started to be implemented and as a result of this process, last house of this neighborhood was demolished in 2014.

“For 40 years, the inhabitants of the neighborhood planted several botanical species, the majority coming from India and Africa. The planting of trees, gardening of vegetables and ornamental species were always part of the different cultures present in the neighborhood. Those practices were related both to economic subsistence and to the cultural aspects namely associated with gastronomy, traditional medicine, and religious ceremonies.

In addition, the residents developed their own means of subsistence, as is the case of the people from Cape Verde who promoted the extensive plantation of sugarcane. They were able to produce cane brandy, molasses, and other traditional products which were in the own neighborhood or in the parallel trade.

The significant number of plants and trees originated in India was justified not only due to the strong presence of the Hindu community but also to the need of using them in religious ceremonies. Among them can we can name transplanted species directly from India, such as the Peepal tree, which is considered to be a sacred plant and that is commonly used in religious worship.”

Coleçcão Jardins da Vitória,Demolitions in the neighborhood and collecting botanical species, 2013-15

“The project consists of a living archive of memories of the neighbourhood of Quinta da Vitória featuring the trees and plants that survived the demolition process and the stories about the everyday practices and religious rituals performed in the neighbourhood (…) The final  form of appearance of the garden is composed by the trees as the actual physical trees, the tags, the Hindu community performing rituals in the sacred trees in ongoing relational designing. If we regard DESIGN IS THE SITUATION, these visible presences communicate a difference in the existing garden, hence they become part of the whole designing process and outcome of the garden made of gardens(...) The tangible end of the neighbourhood becomes the BEGINNING of a garden. The probable end of the trees becomes the BEGINING of a project. The end of the meaning of the trees becomes the BEGINING of the identity tags. The end of the design project becomes the BEGINING of co-design. (…) Freedom and expression in visual designing are not opposed to a living obligation and care for others. In fact, they depend upon each other, to account the indiscipline that is performed in the improvisations and transformations that occurred in the course of designing Quinta da Vitória into a living thing.”

Veiga, Inês, INDISCIPLINE Social design principles and practices: how designers work in this realm, Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Design at FAUL - Lisbon School of Architecture, University of Lisbon, 2020, p. 266