There is no concrete date yet, but it is already a certainty that Faro will once again have its Antonino Museum open. The space, which closed in 1999, will have exhibited a vast collection of stamps, paintings, statues and ceramics associated with its patron: Santo António.
This was one of the news unveiled this Thursday, June 13, at the opening ceremony of the works at the Ermida de Santo António do Alto which is half-walled with the Museum.
The Chamber of Faro is the owner of the space, but delegated to the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve the completion of the project, which was awarded a budget from the Participatory Budget Portugal (OPP).
The project to boost the Ermida de Santo António and the Museum, presented by Ana Morgado and Samanta Duarte, was one of the winners of last year's edition of this initiative.
For now, according to Adriana Nogueira, regional director of Culture, «there is still no forecast» neither for the beginning of the works nor for its conclusion.
"We have to launch the competition, but we have already had authorization from the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage," he explained to journalists.
The official sees this reopening, revealed in the middle of the Santo António Day, «with good eyes». "We have a historian who is preparing a series of studies on Santo António, who was a transversal character who travels through Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Italy," he said.
At the Museum, which was created in 1933, the idea is to address all these facets of the saint who was born in Lisbon and died in Padua (Italy).
«We are thinking, together with the Regional Directorate of Culture, to create a script for the space because, before, there was not a great criterion for organization», explained Marco Lopes, director of the Museum of Faro, to Sul Informação.
Basically, "we are structuring everything better, with a guideline and discourse that addresses Santo António in all its aspects, not just the one best known as a matchmaker", he added.
From the Museum's assets there are still about 200 to 300 pieces. “When the space closed, one of the reasons was the lack of security. There were robberies in the 80s and some vandalism, in addition to the fact that visits were few», framed Marco Lopes.
Even so, the estate is “very heterogeneous and with a common denominator: Saint Anthony and his cult”, he explained.
Due to the reorganization of the Museum, there are pieces that may be left out. It is certain that some are already “being the target of restoration”.
«What we want is to recover, after the works in the space itself, the collection and return it. The Museum is relatively small, but we will have explanatory panels, an appealing museography, contextualization and subtitles», said Marco Lopes to our newspaper.
“There is also the idea of having a small merchandising shop, a space to welcome visitors and another more versatile room, multi-purpose, where they can show some films about Santo António or have a small cultural moment”, he explained.
When everything is ready, that area of the Ermida de Santo António do Alto, which is already open to the public, and the Museum will gain a new life and an importance that it once had. This, at least, is the conviction of Rogério Bacalhau, president of the Chamber of Faro.
As for the work on the Ermida, the mayor said that if it hadn't been done, the state of degradation would get worse. «What we did was, mainly, the interior recovery. The altar was starting to be very degraded», he explained. In addition, there were also improvements in the facade.
That is a space that has another great attraction: a watchtower that used to watch out for pirates. Now, with the view it provides, it will serve to attract tourists.
Because, with the opening of the Ermida, it is also possible to climb the tower and have a perspective literally of the entire municipality of Faro.
In the works of the Antonino Museum there will also be “small improvements” to this tower for safety reasons. "When it opens to the public, with elderly people or children, it is necessary to create some barriers, so that a child does not go over a parapet and fall," explained the mayor.
Anyone who wants to can now climb to the top of this tower, which will also be open under the Açoteia Festival, taking place on the 21st and 22nd of July. But beware: visits will be limited to a maximum of 10 people at a time.
When everything is ready (works in the Museum and in the watchtower) it will be the new Faro Vivo – Cultural Association, which includes those responsible for the project that won the Participatory Budget Portugal, to make the space more dynamic.
The opening hours of the Ermida de Santo António do Alto have not yet been defined.
Photos: Helder Santos | Sul Informação
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