Colonial statues should be maintained, according to historian and retired professor at the University of Coimbra, Luís Reis Torgal, arguing that each era has its own historical legitimacy and that symbols change.

Half a century after Portugal recognized the independence of its former colonies in Africa and East Timor, it recognizes that statues should not be torn down, including those of leaders of the Estado Novo dictatorship. In these cases, it advocated, monuments should display factual information about these individuals' roles in the historical process.

Also regarding toponymy, city councils should provide an explanation for changing or maintaining the names of streets, squares, or public facilities. The names changed due to the changing memory and historical legitimacy, the researcher stated.

In this regard, the author of the book “The University and the New State”, among others, cited his French colleague Marc Ferro (1924-2021) who viewed memory from the perspective of “historical legitimacy”.

In an interview with the Lusa news agency, Luís Reis Torgal was asked about two examples related, respectively, to the colonization of Mozambique and the colonial war: the statue of Major Neutel de Abreu (1871-1945), in Figueiró dos Vinhos and the monument “To the Heroes of Overseas”, in Coimbra.

Founder of the city of Nampula, in Mozambique, twinned in 2002 with Figueiró dos Vinhos, Neutel de Abreu was born and is buried in this municipality in the district of Leiria, having distinguished himself in the “Campaigns for the pacification of Portuguese East Africa”.

The unveiling of the statue of Freemason Neutel de Abreu, a member of the Grande Oriente Lusitano Unido, took place in 1986, 11 years after Mozambique's independence. The monument in Coimbra, in the square still known as Heróis do Ultramar (Heróis do Ultramar), designed by sculptor Cabral Antunes, was inaugurated in 1971, three years before the 25th of April Revolution.

Its construction was approved by the local Council on September 17, 1969, when many students from the University of Coimbra involved in the Academic Crisis of 69 were mobilized for the colonial war, in retaliation from the Government of Marcelo Caetano.

The Central Regional Coordination and Development Commission described the statue as being highly expressive, representing a soldier in period clothing, in a position that suggests he is walking, holding a weapon in his right hand, while with his left he supports a child of African origin on his shoulders.

After the Carnation Revolution, Salazar's statue in Santa Comba Dão was decapitated, and remained so until 1978, when it was destroyed by an explosive device.

"At the time, it was normal to do that. Today, in the cold, I understand that it shouldn't have been done," Reis Torgal argued.

Memory "is a dynamic thing," but it shouldn't be "to the point of falling into right-wing or left-wing extremism," he observed. In turn, the mayor of Figueiró dos Vinhos, Jorge Abreu, considered the twinning with Nampula "extremely important," considering that Neutel "was one of the city's founders."

“The major is a relevant figure from Figueira and the country in the 19th and 20th centuries,” he emphasized.

The PS mayor explained that the bronze representation of the soldier is located in Simões de Almeida (Sobrinho) square, the artist who in 1908 sculpted the original bust of the Republic, exhibited at the Museum of the Presidency of the Republic.

In Nampula, there was also a statue of Neutel, with which the Portuguese authorities, in the 1950s, decided to “immortalize his feats of having managed (…) to conquer the district of Mozambique and (…) for being one of the most outstanding colonists and founder of the city”, wrote the Marechal Samora Machel Military Academy in 2020, in the context of the International Day for Monuments and Sites.

“After national independence, Neutel de Abreu Square was transformed into the Mozambican Heroes Square and the statue (…) was removed to the grounds of the Academy Museum,” he added.

The placement of the statue at the site was interpreted as “a clear sign of historical respect,” considered Nuno Soares and Aires Henriques, authors of the book “Maçons de pedra e cal – A Maçonaria ao Vale do Zêzere” (2015). Meanwhile, Nguni Gungunhana (1850-1906), the last emperor of the Mozambican territory of Gaza, lies in the Maputo Fortress.

Ironically, the remains are now accompanied by, among other symbols of the colonial era, the equestrian statue of Mouzinho de Albuquerque, the Portuguese officer who captured the Zulu monarch in 1895, in the fortified village of Chaimite.

Picture: © 2025 Paulo Novais / LUSA