Mário Soares: 100 years’ exhibition tours schools across the country

Throughout the last half term of the 2024/2025 school year, the ‘Mário Soares: 100 years’ exhibition was travelling to dozens of schools from the north to the south of the country, in an initiative coordinated by the Mário Soares and Maria Barroso Foundation, in conjunction with the School Libraries Network (RBE), as part of the celebrations for the centenary of Mário Soares' birth.

The exhibition, dedicated to the life and work of Mário Soares, has been enthusiastically received by the educational communities and has enabled hundreds of students to learn about the civic, political and international career of one of the main figures in the history of Portuguese democracy.

Organised into five regional tours (Norte Interior, Norte Litoral, Centro-Oeste, Lisboa and Alentejo-Algarve), the exhibition has been shown in more than 30 educational establishments, including schools in the municipalities of Bragança, Vinhais, Alijó, Viana do Castelo, Barcelos, Gondomar, Alcobaça, Cantanhede, Oliveira de Azeméis, Cascais, Amadora, Vila Franca de Xira, Montemor-o-Novo, Elvas, Alter do Chão, Gavião and many others.

Each tour was planned with the support of the RBE and the school libraries, allowing the exhibition to travel between the different establishments on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Most of the schools organised guided tours, debates, educational sessions and interdisciplinary activities, deepening their knowledge of Mário Soares' role in the fight against dictatorship, in the April Revolution, in building democracy and in Portugal's European integration.

The interest shown has already led to the exhibition's calendar being extended to the next school year (2025/2026), with dozens of new schools signed up for the various tours.