The LUBRAPEX — Luso-Brazilian Philately Exhibition — is a stamp exhibition in which only postal operators and collectors from Brazil and Portugal participate. Since 1992, Portuguese speaking countries and territories have also been taking part.
It is the oldest Bilateral Philatelic Exhibition in the world, having been conceived by Brazilian diplomat and philatelist João Paulo do Rio Branco, in order to promote the strengthening of friendly relations between postal operators and collectors from the countries involved. Held for the first time in 1966, at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, this event celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016. The Lubrapex exhibitions have been held alternately by the Designated Postal Operators from Portugal and from Brazil. In the year of the 50th anniversary, it falls to CTT Correios de Portugal to have the honour of holding this event.
In order to better represent the soul of all the people whom the concept of Lubrapex currently covers, we turned to the ethnography of each country and territory, looking for representative handcrafted personal adornments of each of these cultures. Starting from the filigree Heart of Viana do Castelo, in tribute to the city that will be hosting Lubrapex 2016, and covering every corner of the world where the portuguese language is predominant.
Although the choice was challenging given the number of the available items, it was possible – with the precious help of the National Museum of Ethnology and through its considerable assets – to undertake the collection of some pieces that are understood to be the most suitable for this purpose, also taking into account the quality of the underlying artistic formal expression to each one of them.
It is this collection of ethnographic adornments, that also includes pieces from the Museum of Popular Art and the National Museum Machado de Castro, which we reproduce in this philatelic issue that celebrates the 22nd Lubrapex exhibition taking place between 26 April and 01 May in the city of Viana do Castelo.
