In the adaptation we made of The Lusiads by Luís de Camões for the Museu Zoológico, we opted for a chronological view of Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India in order to synchronise it with the other voyage made by the audience during the show – the one throughout the museum. We start in the quay, filled with lusitan vessels ready to depart, and where the crowd gathers to say farewell to their beloved ones. An important part is the famous episode of the Velho do Restelo.

Then the voyage passes along the western African coast and there’s a poetic description of what Portuguese sailors have found in these new lands. This coast ends in the Cape of Torments where we meet the impressive figure of Adamastor who suffers from an unsuccessful love affair. After passing the cape we attend to the God’s council, in Olympus, that decides the Portuguese’s destiny. Meanwhile, they are already sailing in the vast Indian Ocean, where they cross a violent storm and reach, at last, Indian land.

There, after some peace and friendship promises exchanged between Vasco da Gama and the Samorim, the Portuguese head to Portugal carrying some proof of the new maritime discovery. During that return voyage, they are rewarded by Venus, who offers them the Island of Love, filled with nymphs and pleasures, where they could refresh themselves before the final part of the voyage until Lisbon. They arrived home two years and two months after they had left.