Animated Christmas Nativity Scene

November 29th to January 10th | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (Tuesday to Saturday)

Location: Lagos Cultural Center – Exhibition Room 0
Free admission

José Henrique Figueiredo Cortes dedicated ten years to the manual creation of his traditional nativity scene. A work begun in 2011 that, year after year, has been enhanced with new figures and scenes representing an experience he wanted to remember and present to younger generations.

The sheer number of pieces speaks for itself: 275 figures of various characters, 368 animal figures, 38 small houses, plus windmills, a church, a school, a bandstand, a waterwheel with a donkey, ox-drawn carts, olive harvesting, tilling the land, washerwomen, sawyers, carpenters, a barber, a scissors sharpener, a blacksmith, a woodcutter, among other activities, some of which have already disappeared. All this is complemented by ingenious and complex mechanisms that give movement, light and even water to the figures and scenes represented.

A visit to José Cortes' Nativity Scene is already a ritual of the Christmas festivities in Lagos. To ensure this tradition continues, the author decided to take a new step in the existing partnership with the Lagos city hall and donate his work to the municipality, guaranteeing that the nativity scene can continue to be displayed and visited during the Christmas season in the years to come.