Nearly two hundred people visited the Alcalar Megalithic Monuments Interpretation Center on Saturday to participate in the activities that marked its reopening “under new management”.
Transporting huge blocks of stone, as men used to do 5000 years ago, and the workshop to learn how to make pottery as in prehistoric times were the activities most sought after by visitors, on a day when time made many faces, but where the few raindrops that fell were not enough to keep visitors away.
The transport of stone blocks, in a structure with wooden trunks and ropes, was even successfully tested by Manuel da Luz, president of the Portimão Chamber, by the councilwoman of Culture Isabel Guerreiro, by the regional director of Culture Dália Paulo, or by the professor Claus Dobiat, from the University of Marburg (Germany).
These "strength tests" took place after the signing of the protocol of shared management of the Alcalar Interpretation Center between the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve and the Municipality of Portimão. Under the terms of this protocol, which was signed on top of the boulder that was used for visitors to test their strength and skill, it formalizes the fact that Alcalar has been, since March 1st, an extension of the Portimão Museum.
Although there aren't many changes visible at first glance in Alcalar, with this new status, the truth is that there is at least one major change: the most important megalithic monuments in the Algarve now have regular opening and opening hours , throughout the week, provided by employees and technicians of the Portimão Museum, on a rotating basis.
Thus, the Center can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday, from 10:00 am to 13:00 pm and from 14:00 pm to 16:30 pm (time in force until June 31), with tickets costing 2 euros.
If the public also wishes to visit the Portimão Museum, where some of the original materials and pieces discovered in the megalithic monuments of Alcalar are on display, they can purchase a joint ticket for just 4 euros.
On the other hand, the Museum's Educational Workshop will promote regular activities in Alcalar, some of them for schools and by appointment, others to mark important dates with regard to heritage and museums. The next initiatives are already being scheduled for April 21, to commemorate the Day of Monuments and Sites.
Protocol opens new chapter for Alcalar
Dália Paulo, regional director of Culture, stressed, during the signing of the protocol, that the structure she directs will maintain the responsibility for the maintenance and conservation of the megalithic monuments of Alcalar, as well as will continue to assume the «area of knowledge production, through the investigation".
The regional director even recalled that, just recently, that organization promoted an "immediate intervention for the conservation and restoration of the facade" of tomb No. 2, which had partially collapsed due to the rains at the beginning of last autumn.
Dália Paulo added that the fact that the Museum of Portimão assumes Alcalar's management reflects “a new model of heritage and cultural management in the Algarve, very important, for example, in terms of heritage education”.
For his part, Manuel da Luz, mayor, underlined that the autarchy “has always shown itself available to collaborate with the central administration in various areas”, stressing that “local power is a power of proximity”.
The mayor stressed that "heritage is a way of being alive", since "a people that has no memory does not survive".
Manuel da Luz also said that, through Alcalar's new management model as an extension of the Portimão Museum, it will be possible to “enhance added value”, while ensuring that “here, at least in Culture and Heritage, there will be no seasonality, as the monument may be open all year round».
The signing of the protocol between the Regional Directorate of Culture and the Chamber/Museum of Portimão had special assistance – the approximately three dozen students of the doctoral program in Prehistory at the University of Marburg, in Germany. The group toured the megalithic complex of Alcalar for a long time, guided by Rui Parreira, an archaeologist who has been investigating these important prehistoric testimonies for many years.
Doctoral students were accompanied by the professor Claus Dobiat and also by Professor Dirce Marzoli, guest professor at the same German university and director of the Madrid department of the German Institute of Archeology.
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