COVER N. 687 - PORTUGAL

Postmark: 100 Anos Nascimento Querubim Lapa -  Exposição Filatélica AFAL -  CTT Portimão 14.02.2026

Posted on the 14th February;  Received on the 18th February 2026

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It is very seldom that I post here Portuguese covers. There is no particular reason for this, other than the primary goal of the blog being to organise and show up the beautiful correspondence I get from fellow collectors all over the globe, and the fact that all Portuguese covers that I get are self-sent, what makes them a bit off mark for the blog's intentions.

But every once in a while, there comes a stamp or an event, or the conjugation of both, that I find more meaningful to my own self and then I don't let the occasion go by without me trying to get a more personalised cover to add to my collection.

Such was the case, for instance, with the stamp celebrating my French literature teacher, Urbano Tavares Rodrigues, or the one celebrating poet Alexandre O'Neill (although I haven't posted his cover... will do it one of these days).

These were people I knew. Not that I was intimate with them, but at some point in my life I met them, and giants they were already, one cannot but be proud of having been able to enrich one's own intellectual heritage, by hearing, reading, or just observing the way they related to the universe around them.

I never met Querubim Lapa (1925-2016) in person. But I have met his works... in several places throughout my life, and they have to have told me something, like O'Neill (his poems  did tell me a lot more than the reproach I got from him, once) or Urbano did, for I never forgot them.

There was the  ceramic  panel at "Mexicana", where I would go to accompanying my sister, to meet her friends, or the panel at the Foyer of  the Aula Magna of Lisbon University, or other occasional acquaintances for no particular reason, like the panel at the Palace of Justice... and then there was Querubim's last work... which dropped a ray of light into a bleak suburban corner, not  different from any other bleak suburban corner, were it not for the surprise of an immensely  joyful drop of colour on a startling architected temple of culture... about ten minutes from where I live... a humble public library, which is such an exercise of pure good taste, that I went there on several occasions just to take a look at the ceramic panels, photograph them, enjoy them.

Postage was completed with a 0,04€ from the 28APR2022 Portuguese numismatics definitive set 
 Day mark of the main Post Office at Portimão

Querubim Lapa would be 100 years this year. He was one of the notable Portuguese that featured in a set of 8 x 0,69 € issued on 21APR2025 dedicated to Portuguese figures of history and culture.

In his native Portimão, in the Algarve, our southernmost region,  the local Museum organised an exhibition celebrating his centenary, and the Philatelic Association of the Algarve was also present with a philatelic exhibition. For this event a special cancellation was also issued. 

The above mentioned stamp and cancellation can be seen on the cover I prepared which also features a photo I took of one of the panels at the Biblioteca Municipal José Saramago, in Feijó, Almada. 

My thanks to the CTT team at Portimão, who handled this cover in the most professional possible way.

Municipal Library José Saramago, Feijó, Alamada