This morning the minister of Culture visited the Rîbat da Arrifana, an important archaeological complex of Islamic origin existing in Ponta da Atalaia, on the coast of the municipality of Aljezur, classified as a national monument since July 2013.
As part of his first official visit to the Algarve, minister João Soares began by meeting, at 9:00 am, with the mayor of Aljezur, the councilor for Culture, representatives of the Association for the Defense of the Historical and Archaeological Heritage of Aljezur, the director Regional Culture and Technicians.
José Amarelinho, speaking to the Sul Informação, said that "the visit of the minister was essentially based on the importance that the Rîbat da Arrifana represents for the municipality, region and country."
This is the single rîbat (Islamic fortress monastery) known, so far, in Portuguese territory and the second in the Iberian Peninsula.
“We are, therefore, before a site of great historical value that has always deserved special attention from the Chamber, constituting one of the fundamental pieces in the sustainable development strategy that we pursue”, highlighted the municipality of Aljezur.
«We believe that the visit of Dr. João Soares can enhance, on the part of the State, the important and indispensable work of conservation and enhancement of the monument», assuring the mayor José Amarelinho that «in our scale and financial possibility, the Chamber of Aljezur will do everything in this direction».
Since 2002, the couple of archaeologists Mário and Rosa Varela Gomes have been coordinating the excavations at Ponta da Atalaia, a small rocky promontory that seems to be advancing out to sea, on the coast of Aljezur.
At its tip, in the troubled XNUMXth century, there was a rîbat, a kind of monastery-fortress, inhabited by Muslim warrior-monks who took vows of poverty, commanded by the famous Ibn-Qasi, a Sufi master who lived there, with his community, when it already had at its doors the Christian knights of D. Afonso Henriques.
In his first official visit to the Algarve, as Minister of Culture, João Soares has already visited the Fortress of Sagres, the Church of Santo António, in Lagos, the Castle of Paderne, the Teatro das Figuras and the Teatro Lethes, in Faro.
Your visit will end at the recent facilities of the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve, in Faro, where he will have the opportunity to have a brief conversation with some of the regional entities, such as the presidents of AMAL, Jorge Botelho, of CCDR Algarve, David Santos, and of the Algarve Tourism Region, Desidério Silva, as well as the president of the University of the Algarve António Branco.
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