A Public Petition «for the preservation of the integrity of Fábrica do Inglês/Cork Museum of Silves as an industrial/cork producer cultural value», to be sent to the President of the Assembly of the Republic and promoted by the Portuguese Association of Industrial Archeology, has so far collected 620 signatures.
" which would deprive it of most of its patrimonial value'.
The text also emphasizes that "the Cork Museum is constituted as a whole in the factory in which it is located, with part of its heritage integrated in the building and dispersed by it, being, therefore, inseparable from the space it currently occupies", still recalling and «this Museum arose from the desire to preserve a local heritage that is about to disappear and in homage to a city with a very important industrial/cork-making past».
Petition: Cork Museum is constituted as a whole in the factory where it is located, with part of its heritage integrated in the building and dispersed by it, being, therefore, inseparable from the space it currently occupies
In fact, underlines the Petition, "several donations were made by anonymous citizens to the museum collection, confident in the institution's preservation of the memory of their ancestors."
On the other hand, Petition considers that «the Assembly of the Republic, on several occasions, has expressed its concern for the fate of this important heritage, namely through the unanimous approval of Resolution No. 129/2010», which had no practical effects.
In addition, the text emphasizes, this is a time when «Portugal – the largest producer of cork in the world – seeks new forms of external promotion, partnerships and markets with the objective of a significant and sustained economic development».
Therefore, the signatories intend "that the deputies of the Republic express to the current owners and members of the government, in this competent area, their concern for the fate and preservation of this important heritage", as well as that they "use their influence as an organ of sovereignty to support the application of the mobile and integrated estate of the Cork Museum to heritage of public interest, a process currently underway at the initiative of the Portuguese Association of Industrial Archaeology».
The text of the Public Petition, which can be signed online here or downloaded and printed through the Facebook page of the Museu da Cortiça de Silves, points out that the structure was inaugurated in 1999, promoting the rehabilitation of the original architectural space of an old cork stopper factory built in 1894, also known as Fábrica do Inglês.
The museological project, which included the entire factory space, was internationally recognized with the Luigi Micheletti award for best industrial museum of the year in 2001.
Petition: The current owner does not guarantee the maintenance of the museum collection in its place of origin
Between 1999 and 2009, the period in which it remained open, «it was one of the most visited museums nationwide, contributing positively to the good image of the Algarve region and the country, in a thematic and economic area – cork – that projects us internationally and in which, precisely, we claim primacy».
The Museum and the former factory in which it is located (now a building of municipal interest) have been closed since 2009 following the insolvency process of the owner company.
In 2014, this process ended in a public auction with the sale of the “Fábrica do Inglês” property to Caixa Geral de Depósitos and the museum collection (some of it integrated in the building itself) to a private group linked to the food distribution sector, Grupo Nogueira , «despite the efforts of the Municipality of Silves to acquire it».
Na public auction of May 30th, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) bought the Fábrica do Inglês property for 2.239.600 euros, while the estate of the Cork Museum, which operated in one of the building's wings, in which the Silves City Council was interested, ended up being purchased by Grupo Nogueira, current owner of the Alisuper Supermarkets and, in this way, also a major creditor of the bankrupt Grupo Alicoop/Alisuper, which in 1999 transformed the former cork factory into a restaurant and leisure space.
At the auction, the Sul Informação watched, the museological estate was still disputed between the Chamber of Silves and the Nogueira Group, but the latter ended up doing the final bidding, for 36 thousand euros.
Speaking to our newspaper, João Nogueira, administrator of Grupo Nogueira, ghe assured that his intention is to "maintain and reopen the Cork Museum as soon as possible".
But in July, in statements to the Público newspaper, the manager went further: "We want to open the museum there or elsewhere."
Now, this possibility of moving the museum's collection of pieces and documents to another location left museologists and heritage defenders in shock. “This Cork Museum cannot be built anywhere else but where it is”.
It is an integrated industrial heritage, which includes both the estate and the building itself. Any removal of parts from this location is destruction», explained Jorge Custódio, president of APAI to Sul Informação, on the sidelines of a concentration promoted at the door of Fábrica do Inglês, in Silves, on the 19th of July.
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