On April 21, 2025, the Portuguese Post issued 8 postage stamps as part of the series "Historical and Cultural Figures".

Portugal Post regularly issues commemorative stamps in honor of outstanding Portuguese people who have made significant contributions to science, art and public life in the country. The first such series was issued in 2006.

This year, the following significant figures are celebrated on the 250th, 150th and 100th birthdays:

• João Domingos Bontempo (1775–1842) – composer, pianist and music teacher. He founded the first music academy in the country and made a great contribution to music education, laying the foundations of academic music in Portugal in the 19th century.
• Palmira Bastos (1875–1967) – actress, one of the greatest stars of Portuguese theater in the 20th century. Her theatrical career lasted 75 years, the actress was faithful to the stage until old age.
• Francisco Pereira de Moura (1925–1998) - economist, professor and political activist.
• Isabel da Nóbrega (1925–2021) - writer and journalist, author of novels, essays and radio broadcasts. Her work was distinguished by deep humanity and social sensitivity. She was awarded several literary awards and is recognized as an important voice of women's prose of the 20th century.
• Joaquim Veríssimo Serrão (1925–2020) - historian who specialized in the political and cultural history of Portugal. The author of the multi-volume "History of Portugal", academic, professor, had a huge influence on national historiography.
• José Cardoso Pires (1925–1998) - writer and journalist, one of the most prominent representatives of Portuguese prose of the 20th century. His works were distinguished by the sharpness of language, a critical view of society and an innovative form. A classic of modernist literature in Portugal.
• Querubin Lapa (1925–2016) was a painter and ceramist, one of the most significant masters of modern Portuguese art. He worked with monumental ceramics, frescoes and sculpture, decorating many public spaces with bright, expressive works.

But in this list of remarkable names, the most interesting for us, of course, is the name of Nuno Oliveira (1925–1989), a master of horse riding, trainer and teacher who had a huge influence on the development of equestrian art not only in Portugal, but also in the world.

Nuno Oliveira was born in Lisbon in 1925 and showed an interest in horses from an early age. He received an education in music and humanities, which left its mark on his riding style - refined, subtle, almost choreographic.

Oliveira continued the traditions of classical dressage established by masters of the 17th-19th centuries, including Robichon de la Guérinière, François Baucher and Gustave Steinbrecht. However, he did not simply copy the old schools, but reinterpreted their philosophy in a modern context. His main principle was respect for the horse as a partner. Oliveira advocated a soft, harmonious relationship between the rider and the animal. He rejected harsh training methods, believing that dressage should be built on trust, patience and inner balance.

During his career, he taught both amateurs and professionals in different countries around the world: in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, then in Canada, the USA, Peru and Costa Rica, then in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia. Many of his students later became famous trainers and continuers of his method. Oliveira left behind a rich literary legacy - more than ten books and collections of reflections on horses and dressage, among which the most notable are "Reflections on the Art of Horsemanship" of 1965 and "Classical Principles of the Art of Training Horses" of 1983. These works have become reference books for fans of the classical school.

Nuno Oliveira did not strive for sports records in the usual sense - his goal was the artistic and spiritual perfection of the interaction between horse and man. He believed that true mastery is manifested not in medals, but in the harmony of movements, in the ease of contact, in the ability to listen to the horse and understand it.

Until the end of his life, Oliveira remained true to his ideals - modesty, love for animals and deep inner discipline. Today, his name is rightfully considered a symbol of classical dressage, an art in which technique and soul merge into one.

When creating the postal darkness, designer Túlio Coelho used a photograph of Nuno Oliveira taken by French photographer Yvon Bourgeois in the 1980s. It depicts the master on the horse Soante performing a piaffe - one of the figures of the highest school of equestrianism.

The photo was taken in the picadeiro (equestrian arena) building on the Quinta do Brejo estate, which Nuno Oliveira bought in 1973, organizing his own riding school there. The walls of the riding hall are decorated with panels of Portuguese azulejo tiles in white and blue tones depicting riders performing figures of the highest school of equestrianism. Such panels, typical of the architecture of the 18th-19th centuries, create the atmosphere of an old palace riding hall and emphasize the classical values ​​brought to his school by master Nuno Oliveira.

Sources: www.ctt.pt , quintadobrejo.pt