Mértola Museum – Cláudio Torres. This is the new designation of this space, approved on the 7th of September, in honor of the archaeologist who, for over 40 years, has worked for the preservation and enhancement of the heritage of this Alentejo county.
«The pioneering vision of Cláudio Torres combines Heritage, the territory and its people as the main drivers of local development», says the Mértola City Council, in a press release.
«The museological program is structured in a multidisciplinary approach of valorization and patrimonial dissemination with an appealing expository discourse that privileges the installation of museological centers in the place of archaeological finds. The 14 museum nuclei allow the creation of dynamic routes and the discovery of the past of this place, strongly linked to the Guadiana River in which, in the words of Cláudio Torres, the museum is the village itself».
The municipality considers that the archaeologist “deserves this tribute”.
Born in 1939, Cláudio Torres is the founder and director of Campo Arqueológico de Mértola. Founder and director of the magazine “Arqueologia Medieval”.
Doctor “honoris causa” by the University of Évora (2001). Pessoa Prize 1991, in 1993, he was invested by the President of the Republic with the Grand Cross of the Order of Infante D. Henrique. Since 2006, member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for the Management of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage (IGESPAR).
Between 1974 and 1986, he was a professor in several subjects linked to Medieval History at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon. Between 1986 and 1996, he served as head of the Sociocultural Division of the Municipality of Mértola. Between 1996 and 2002 (date of his retirement), he was director of the Guadiana Valley Natural Park.
In 2001, Portugal's representative on the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Between 1996 and 2007, president of the Portuguese National Commission on Monuments and Sites – ICOMOS. Between 2004 and 2012, National Coordinator of the Anna Lindh Foundation Portuguese Network.
He has developed his scientific activity in particular in the area of cultural heritage, namely in the fields of archaeology, historical research and museology.
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