General Library of the University of Coimbra launches project to present books censored during the Estado Novo regime

^{Translation: Diana Taborda}

The travelling exhibition 'Books banned during the Estado Novo', organised by the General Library of the University of Coimbra in collaboration with the National Plan for the Arts and the central region School Libraries Network, aims to 'create a circuit that allows the reader to get closer to the books and to the lens of censorship itself', as explained by Manuel Portela, Director of the General Library of the University of Coimbra (BGUC).

Each of the 30 books is tagged with a QR code that allows readers to access "a brief description of the content of each work, as well as the censored parts and the censors' reports," says Manuel Portela.

The books will initially be made available in school libraries in the municipality of Coimbra, with plans to extend the project to the whole of the Centre region.

The books were selected based on facsimiles, which are identical reproductions of the first editions. António E. Maia do Amaral, BGUC's deputy director and curator of the project, notes, 'The library has the original books, but if we made an exhibition based only on the original editions, we would only be able to hold one exhibition at a time, and that would be very limited.' Therefore, five exhibitions can travel simultaneously.