Wanderlino
Arruda
I
don't
remember
when
I
was
at
the
Congonhas
do
Campo
last,
but
I
remember
very
well
with
what
objective
and
with
whom
I
went
up
and
down
old
streets
and
hills
peopled
by
magnificent
statues,
and
other
sculpted
art
of
Aleijadinho.
We
know
that
sculpture
work
is
his
when
you
discerne
a
sculpted
rose
in
the
piece,
It
was
his
symbol.the
symbol
of
his
standing
in
the
Rosacruz
Masonry.
I
know
that
Manoel
and
Nair
were
cicerones
and,
as
traveling
companions,
Olimpia,
Joao
Wlader,
and
also
Danilo
and
Denilson,
I
think.
It
wasn't
a
large
caravan,
but
being
mixed
together
with
other
tourists,
made
for
a
lot
of
activity
and
good
times.
We
visited
Congonhas
after
passing
through
Ouro
Preto
and
Mariana,
all
important
historic
cities.
By
this
time
I
had
long
used
up
the
meager
two
rolls
of
film
that
I
had
brought
for
my
camera,
because
that
I
love
to
register
my
comings
and
goings
through
this
huge
and
fascinating
Brazil,
my
home.
There
I
was,
taking
pictures
of
colonial
houses,
centenarian
churches
and
kids.
It
was
in
Congonhas,
passing
and
passing
again,
by
each
and
every
one
of
the
chapels,
and
touring
the
courtyard
in
front
of
the
church
of
Bon
Jesus
de
Matozinhos,
seeing
from
the
distance
and
up
close,
the
incredible
sculptures
made
by
the
lame
hands
of
the
greatest
of
all
geniuses
of
Baroque
art,
that
I
could
really
feel
the
grandiose
talent
of
Antonio
Francisco
Lisboa.
I
can't
describe
the
feeling
of
ecstasy
that
I
felt
standing
before
works
of
art
never
before
tried
and
never
after
repeated,
with
such
true
feeling
and
determination!
How
marvelous,
that
inventive,
creative
intelligence,
how
tremendously
strong
was
the
will
to
sculpt,
a
moment
of
faith
and
desire
to
be
free.
How
wise
is,
the
wheel
of
destiny
in
that
puts
together
in
the
right
places
and
times,
the
chisel
of
the
noblest
ideals!
Aleijadinho,
Aleijadinho.How
is
it
possible
that
only
one
man,
isolated
and
alone,
with
his
physical
ugliness
without
hands
or
fingers,
only
mere
stubs,
cut
the
stone
with
so
much
knowledge
and
spiritual
beauty?
How
could
a
man
so
untiring
and
restless
so
full
of
deficiencies
be
worth
more
than
a
multitude
of
other
artists?
Which
invisible
genius
moved
your
arms,
your
stubs
of
hands,
dear
Aleijadinho?
Could
the
presence
of
Gonzaga,
of
Marilia,
of
Claudio
Manoel,
of
Heliodora
and
of
Alvarenga,
or
of
even
his
daughter
in
law,
Joana,
have
been
an
incentive
to
his
power
of
creation?
Could
it
have
been
love,
hate.or
despair?
What
most
profoundly
marks
his
work?
It
seems,
Aleijadinho,
that
in
your
frozen
figures,
you
portray
even
now,
the
most
horrible
part
of
the
human
personality.
In
his
work
is
shown
the
contrast
of
the
serenity,
beauty
and
confidence
of
Jesus,
in
which
the
harshness
and
cruelty
of
the
torturers,
symbol
of
all
enemies
of
liberty
of
all
ages.
The
contrasts
that
he
made
between
good
and
evil
existent
in
the
abyss
between
good
and
evil.
Today,
research
tells
us
convincingly
that
you,
Aleijadinho,
wanted
only
to
eternalize
the
perplexity
of
the
revolutionary
moment
of
the
"Inconfidencia",
being
that
you
were
also
the
principal
revolutionary
that
dreamed
of
a
free
colonial
Brazil.
So
it
seems
logical
to
us
today,
that
in
his
superb
set
of
statues
of
prophets
at
the
church
of
Matozinhos,
Ozeas
is
Alvarenga,
Daniel
is
Gonzaga,
Jonas
is
Tiradentes,
Jeremy
with
boots
and
wearing
a
pony
tail,
is
the
colonel
Francisco
of
Paulo
Freire
Andrade?
How
clear
it
is,
Aleijadinho,
that
Amos,
exhibiting
Negro
features
and
a
barrette
hat
called
a
frijio,
represents
the
Brazilian
people
and
you
as
well.
Well
said
Gilberto
Freire,
the
great
sociologist
in
an
interview
on
television:
Until
today,
Brazil
has
only
had
two
genuine
geniuses;
one,
in
Minas
Gerais,
the
Great
Aleijadinho,
and
the
other,
in
the
northeast,
namely
he,
himself.
