Português 
28 Nov - 9 Jan 2027 • 10h00–18h00
Animated Christmas Nativity Scene by José Cortes
28 November to 9 January | Tuesday to Saturday | 10am–6pm
Venue: Centro Cultural de Lagos – Exhibition Room 0
Organised by: Lagos Municipality
Free entry
José Henrique Figueiredo Cortes spent ten years making his traditional nativity scene by hand. Started in 2011, the work grew year after year with new figures and scenes from a way of life he wanted to remember and pass on to younger generations.
The numbers speak for themselves: 275 figures of all kinds of characters, 368 animal figures and 38 little houses, plus windmills, a church, a school, a bandstand, a water wheel with its donkey, ox carts, olive picking, ploughing, washerwomen, sawyers, carpenters, the barber, the knife grinder, the blacksmith and the woodcutter, among other trades, some of which have already disappeared. All of this is brought to life by ingenious and complex mechanisms that give movement, light and even water to the figures and scenes.
A visit to José Cortes's nativity scene is already a Christmas ritual in Lagos. To keep the tradition alive, the author has donated his work to the municipality, so that the nativity scene can continue to be shown and visited during the Christmas season in the years to come.
Venue: Centro Cultural de Lagos – Exhibition Room 0
Organised by: Lagos Municipality
Free entry
José Henrique Figueiredo Cortes spent ten years making his traditional nativity scene by hand. Started in 2011, the work grew year after year with new figures and scenes from a way of life he wanted to remember and pass on to younger generations.
The numbers speak for themselves: 275 figures of all kinds of characters, 368 animal figures and 38 little houses, plus windmills, a church, a school, a bandstand, a water wheel with its donkey, ox carts, olive picking, ploughing, washerwomen, sawyers, carpenters, the barber, the knife grinder, the blacksmith and the woodcutter, among other trades, some of which have already disappeared. All of this is brought to life by ingenious and complex mechanisms that give movement, light and even water to the figures and scenes.
A visit to José Cortes's nativity scene is already a Christmas ritual in Lagos. To keep the tradition alive, the author has donated his work to the municipality, so that the nativity scene can continue to be shown and visited during the Christmas season in the years to come.
