Museu da Marioneta

Henrique Delgado (1938-1971) is an irreplaceable name in the puppet panorama in Portugal and I can’t help paying him my homage here. The study of the Portuguese puppet wouldn’t have been possible without his precious work. From the sixties, he develops several studies on theoretical and practical questions, he incentives their pedagogical employment and promotes initiatives about this theme.

His studies were made known in several national and international publications, being a major reference for the knowledge of the Portuguese puppet.

Through his investigation, we discover the activity of the popular puppeteers, their importance, decadence and their further (almost) disappearance. He methodically explored this field “(…) without ever stopping to find, at each step, new elements, with extraordinary interest under the most varied points of view (philological, etymological, sociological, the one that relates with the knowledge of the history of national and European theatrical manifestations — both lay and religious – etc.)”.
Henrique  Delgado was also related to the production of shows through Robertoscope Theatre, founded by Henrique Trindade, and Lilipute Theatre, for which he built puppets, scenarios and staged plays for children.