The Old Fountain of São Brás de Alportel was reopened, after being the target of rehabilitation works, which aimed to give more dignity to this «element of São Brasense heritage, full of memories of the daily life of the past».
«The works included the construction of a new surrounding wall, cleaning of the water line, earthworks, pavement and curb coverings, restoration and reconstruction of existing elements, placement of urban furniture, restoration of the existing washing plant and even the beautification of the place with green spaces», revealed the São Brasense municipality.
The recovery of Fonte cost around 21,3 euros, with a 65 percent contribution from the Proder program, and was carried out within the scope of the project to enhance the heritage of «Memories of the Earth – from Fonte Velha to Poço Novo», which the City Council of São Brás de Alportel is carrying out.
«This first inauguration of the Memórias da Terra Project reflects the appreciation that is made to these spaces with history, spaces that were once part of the daily lives of São Brasenses and that today gain a new life, as spaces of memory and leisure for the new generations», illustrated the mayor of São Brás Vitor Guerreiro, at the inauguration ceremony of the requalified Fonte Velha, held on Saturday.
Nelson Dias, the president of the association In Loco, manager of Proder in the center of the Algarve, pointed out that São Brás was the municipality «which made the best use of community funds, presenting a greater number of projects, valuing in an exemplary way the council's heritage» .
In addition to providing the restoration of built heritage, the work now completed also promotes the dissemination of other São Brasense heritage, namely the literary.
Fonte Velha received two stanzas from the poem “A Fonte”, extracted from a work by São Brasense poet Bernardo de Passos:
“Here watering a wicker, a slender ash;
There, a cornfield, which the air blooms;
Beyond, a wild and wild barrobeiro;
Run this font as if it were worth
A suckling boy, and she is
The white mother's milk that invigorates you…!”
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