Villa do Bispo will have a museum, whose works "should start by the end of the first half of 2017." The idea, explained by Adelino Soares, mayor of Vila do Bispo, is to create a space in the former building of EPAC's granaries, which brings together the archaeological, geological, paleontological and natural assets of the municipality.
In statements to the Sul Informação, on the margin of fam trip, promoted by the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA), to the municipality of Vila do Bispo, Adelino Soares explained that this will be more “an exhibition space” and not so much a museum, since the latter “requires a very large human resources structure”. And other requirements that, apparently, are not in the plans of the Vilabispense mayor.
Still, the great idea will be "that visitors leave and want to visit the rest of the county, with all the heritage we have outdoors," he added, smiling. And although the name of this space has not yet been defined, it will be related to EPAC and the old granaries that used to function there.
The infrastructure will have 800 square meters and the mayor of Vila do Bispo expects to have the “project completed by the end of January”, to be able to present it to the population at that time, which coincides with the municipality's festivities. "We then want to launch the project and obtain the approval of the Court of Auditors," he added to Sul Informação.
As for the collection of this exhibition space, «everything we already have, as well as the University of Algarve, we can do a lot of things», said Adelino Soares. Among this collection, there are dinosaur footprints, Roman mosaics and archaeological remains from various periods, as explained to our newspaper Ricardo Soares, archaeologist at Vila do Bispo Chamber.
Even so, the intention is to expand the estate that is still in the municipality. One of Adelino Soares' ideas is to ensure that the pieces and material collected in his municipality over the decades and that are now in museums across the country – namely the National Archeology Museum, in Lisbon – can return to be part of the collection of the future exhibition center in Vila do Bispo.
To achieve this, the mayor says he is already "in contact with government structures in Lisbon". However, without a real Museum in that county of Costa Vicentina, that is, without a structure that meets the minimum requirements, it will be difficult for the estate to return.
But Adelino Soares is confident and stresses that, in the future structure, not even the fauna and flora will be forgotten, since “in Vila do Bispo there are unique species”.
For the work to be carried out, it is important to guarantee community funding for CRESC Algarve 2020, which «may be extended up to 1 million euros», revealed Adelino Soares to our newspaper. This funding "in some way guarantees that the equipment will start and finish smoothly," he added.
«I have no doubts that this will be a highly visited equipment». And that will even contribute to increasing the attractiveness of the county where the most visited national monument in the Algarve is located – the Fortress of Sagres – and, above all, to make visitors' stays longer. “We don't want people to come here to visit us just one day, but several times, to feel how this territory is unique and extraordinary”, concludes the mayor of Vila do Bispo.
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