When people leave their jobs due to retirement, nostalgia, fears and future expectations emerge almost instantaneously. These are all motifs for reflections that force us to learn (a lot) from the past, question the present and look to the future, the best possible future. Understanding the crease, the mark that a human being leaves on an institution will certainly be unfathomable... because in the absence of the person, much of them will remain. We're talking about Natércia Coimbra, a member and mentor of the CD25A-UC team for the four decades that she dedicated to this house and who retired in 2024, the year in which the Centre celebrated 40 years of activity and the 50th anniversary of 25 April 1974. It was under his coordination and dedication that this service was set up, from its inception in 1984, created by a rectorial order, by Prof. Rui Alarcão, following the colloquium "Portugal 1974-1984: 10 years of social transformation" held in Coimbra and as a result of a proposal signed by a group of professors who formed the Centre's first Board of Directors - with representation from the Faculty of Law (Prof. Gomes Canotilho), the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra and the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra. Gomes Canotilho), the Faculty of Letters (Prof Reis Torgal) and the Faculty of Economics (Prof Boaventura de Sousa Santos - then President and Prof Alfredo Marques). 

Inaugurated with its own facilities in 1987, it followed a path that has been dynamic and innovative, establishing strategic agreements with related entities (such as the 25 de Abril Association), inaugurating the first exhibition on 25 April 1974 in the country, providing schools and municipalities with travelling exhibitions and other educational resources on topics related to the Revolution, by publishing works that addressed the country's recent history for the first time, by proactively housing, processing and making available for consultation private archive funds and collections that were being lost in a Canadian total archive model, which led to the creation of one of the most extensive and complex contemporary history archives of the second half of the 20th century in Portugal. This archive, which today remains the patrimony of the University of Coimbra, deserves to be valued by its custodian, in the name of all Portuguese people, from a perennial perspective that always favours its growth.

It is at the beginning of 2025, the first year without Natércia Coimbra as an active member of this house, that the entire Centre team and Board of Directors say goodbye, without ever saying goodbye. See you soon, see you next time!