Work at the Cine-Teatro António Pinheiro, in Tavira, resumed at the end of last week. The intervention had even started months ago, but had to stop due to the need to carry out archeological work.
Now that the archaeologists have finished the work and have given their approval to the progress of the intervention, Jorge Botelho, president of the Chamber of Tavira, told the Sul Informação that the works should be completed "in July 2020. Initially, they were to be finished in March. With this delay of four months, they should slip more or less that time."
As for the archaeological excavations, they were already planned from the beginning. «It was stipulated in the work program, in accordance with the prior opinion of the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve, that, from a certain stage of the work, archeology would enter», explained the mayor of Tavir.
The mentioned moment was the one in which, after demolition of part of the existing building, «in the area where the stage box will be and where it will be necessary to launch piles at a considerable depth».
“The DRCAlg archaeologists were here, dug up to minus eight, below ground, and found nothing but mud. In the meantime, we were given the go-ahead and the work started again”, said Jorge Botelho, in an information reinforced by Cristina Teté Garcia, the archaeologist responsible for the works that were carried out over the last few months, who assured our newspaper that “it ran it's all right".
Although the archeology work took four months, the mayor of Tavira does not give the time as wasted, as "everything was done properly and within the stipulated rules".
In January 2018, when the award only depended on details, Jorge Botelho had revealed to the Sul Informação that this work contemplates the creation “of a modular concert hall, with 360 seats, which will allow to receive almost 100% of the shows that take place in Portugal. If the first row of chairs is removed, it will already allow you to receive 100%».
Em open space, “the room can hold almost 600 people. It will be a space with a balcony, a stage box and the entrance will be made through a central door, where there is now a tree, creating a square and redefining that space», added the mayor.
For the mayor, the construction of the new cinema-theatre, which will cost 5 million euros and is financed by CRESC Algarve 2020, «is an urgency» for the city, since «Tavira is the only municipality that does not have a covered entertainment venue”.
According to the mayor, “this does not allow you to program many things in low season. We are sent to churches and small spaces. With this work, this gap will be filled», he concludes.
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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