The insolvency of Fábrica do Inglês SA, decreed by the court last week, annulled the public auction of the Cork Museum, which should have taken place on June 5, by decision of the Tax and Customs Authority.
The insolvency request was filed by the Nogueira Group, which in 2012 bought the companies of the former Alicoop/Alisuper Group, having been the way to avoid the sale of the building and estate of the Cork Museum, which is part of the Fábrica do Inglês complex, closed since 2009.
Rogério Pinto, mayor of Silves, revealed to the Sul Informação who will ask for a meeting with the insolvency administrator, "to see what her intentions are in relation to the museum."
The mayor added that both the Chamber of Silves and the Regional Directorate of Culture are following the case. "We are going to dialogue with those who have the right and then, on the basis of this, we will see what can be done, in the certainty, however, that this is a heritage to be preserved," added Rogério Pinto.
PSD/CDS parliamentary majority votes against BE's proposal to preserve Cork Museum
However, last Friday, the parliamentary majority (PSD+CDS/PP) voted in the Assembly of the Republic to vote on the Left Block's Draft Resolution that called for the suspension of the sale of the Cork Museum in Silves and the addition of requalification measures in the museum space. The Draft Resolution obtained only the votes in favor of BE, PCP-PEV and PS.
The document, which ended up being voted on after the declaration of insolvency of the company that owns the Cork Museum, was admitted to the Assembly of the Republic in early April, was debated in two committees, having been discussed in the middle of last week. As voting takes place on Friday, at the end of the work, it was only then that the results were known.
The Block considered, in its Draft Resolution, that “due to the wealth of its assets, its role in promoting the cork industry and its remarkable collection of machinery, the Cork Museum is not only one of the most important tourist and cultural centers of Silves, as justifies its role and recognition beyond borders».
"Its loss is a loss for history, for culture, for the cork industry, and for this reason the Left Block considers its alienation unacceptable", adds BE, which considered the Museum as a "historical and cultural symbol of Silves and invaluable heritage for Portugal».
«The importance of this museum and its rich heritage therefore required public intervention, especially from the competent departments of Culture and Tourism, to save the museum, where 12 million euros were invested», stated the Draft Resolution.
Opened in 1999, after the restoration and transformation of the centenary factory Aven, Sounds & amp; barrels as a culture, entertainment and leisure park, the museum was awarded the Luigi Micheletti prize in 2001 as the best industrial museum in Europe, receiving more than 100 visitors that year.
The museum area includes in its collection unique examples of cork machines for the transformation of cork, as well as an important documental archive from the XNUMXth century. XIX.
Closed and left abandoned for four years, BE denounced that, with the public auction that was planned, the Cork Museum was subject to a possible alienation with the entire museum collection still inside, «public heritage, of essential value for the industrial history of the country, and that it cannot be subjected to any strategy of blind alienation that harms the public interest».
Fonte do Bloco de Esquerda do Algarve added that, with the insolvency of the company that owns the space, «and although this company is formally “dead”, this does not mean that the heritage is safeguarded. It was in this sense, of safeguarding the estate, that the BE presented this recommendation to the government».
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