Day 104. Braga

День 104. Брага

Брага считается барочной столицей Португалии. Однако, страннице показалось гораздо интереснее богатейшее кельто-римское наследие города. Чего стоит один только «фонтан идола», посвященный кельтскому богу Tongoenabiago с типично римскими барельефами.

“The fountain seems prehistoric although the sculptures date from later, and was dedicated to a god with a Polynesian-sounding name: Tongoenabiago. These are the teachings the traveler carefully retains. What moves him is that there was evidently a time when all the land was uncultivated, the water tumbled among the stones, and whoever came to collect it gave thanks to the god Tongo for the bounties of the siren. Nowadays we may well have cause to question the purity or otherwise of the water, but the statues continue offering their timeworn faces for as long as they are no yet utterly destroyed.” (© “Journey to Portugal” J. Saramago)

The so-called "Fonte do Ídolo" in Braga, is a monument sculpted from a big granitic block, 3 meters long and 1.5 meters high, with the deity represented by a big upright figure (bearded according to ancient inscriptions) with a cornucopia. The dedicator, Celicus Fronto Ambimogidus, from the city of Arcóbriga (there are two homonyms in Celtiberia and Celtic Beturia), is perhaps represented in a small temple with a dove and a mallet portrayed on its pediment (Tranoy 2002; cf Rodríguez Colmenero 2002, who believes the upright female figure to be Nabia, and the bust in the niche a Tongus Nabiagus). (© “Religion and Religious Practices of the Ancient Celts of the Iberian Peninsula”)

Каучсерфинг у Луиша Новаиша - писателя, с которым странница разговаривала о Тарковском; смотрела на руины римской виллы в городском ресторане, путешествовала в "доме на колесах" и искала подходящий русский самовар для португальского дома :)