The requalification and expansion works of the Cine-Teatro António Pinheiro, in Tavira, should be completed by the end of June at the latest, but the date for reopening this cultural facility to the public is not yet known, due to uncertainty about the weather. which will lead to equipping the space with the necessary technical equipment.
This intervention, which will make it possible to create a modern room, with technical capabilities like few others in the country and which can either only have seats (370) or a solution that allows it to accommodate 520 spectators, part of them standing, by retracting the first audience, was one of those visited by Ana Abrunhosa, Minister of Territorial Cohesion, on a tour she made through Tavira, on Tuesday, May 2nd.
The objective of the minister's visit to the region – in addition to Tavira, she was at the Aquashow Indoor, in Quarteira (Loulé) – was to get to know, on the spot, the progress of various works co-financed by European Funds.
On Tuesday morning, Ana Abrunhosa was first in Cachopo, at the construction work on the Means of Air Centre, which should be concluded in July, as Sul Informação already managed.
The next stop was the Cine-Teatro António Pinheiro project, which is «finally» nearing completion, as highlighted by Ana Paula Martins, mayor of Tavira.
Based on the estimate advanced by those responsible for the contract, during the visit, the mayor from Tavira expects that «by the end of the month» or, at the latest, «by the end of the first semester», the work will be completed.
In this case, it is just the building itself, since, when the work was awarded, the City Council removed from the terms of reference the part of the equipment necessary to equip the concert hall, including machinery, sound equipment and other technical elements.
The acquisition of this material is contemplated in a procedure running in parallel, which «at this moment, is for approval by the Court of Auditors and then still has to be supplied and installed».
«What brings us some uncertainty here is this procedure. It has been awarded for practically a month and a half or two months, so I believe that companies have taken steps to acquire this equipment. However, we are talking about some equipment with electronic components and we all know how the delivery of these materials is going», said Ana Paula Martins.
And, taking into account the physical characteristics of the room, there is a lot of technical material that will have to be acquired.
Among the elements of the renewed Cineteatro António Pinheiro, what stands out the most (literally) is the stage box, which is more than a dozen meters high.
This volumetry, which has been the target of criticism by the population and discussion in the city, «is not something that stems from the taste of the architect, nor of the Council», assured Ana Paula Martins.
“Everybody thinks it's a tower, but that's not what it is. (…) We are talking about a stage box, which is necessary to accommodate the entire component of the scene mechanics », he added.
It is this structure that makes it possible «that the theater has the technical capacity to receive 70% of the shows that are put on in Portugal, of theatre, dance, music and much more».
«I understand that there are people who don't like it, because we are not a city that has very tall buildings. On the other hand, the fact of being black may not be well seen either, because we are a very light city. However, I invite everyone to look at the cinema at night and realize its beauty, particularly when we remove all the fence that is there», concluded the mayor of Tavira.
Other characteristics that mark this new room are «the possibility of the stage being enlarged and the bench to be retracted», which makes this «a very versatile space».
The reconstruction of the Cineteatro António Pinheiro was initially budgeted at around 5 million euros, but «with price revisions, we should already be close to 7 million euros, just the work». To this value, the material will have to be added, which will cost “another million or a million and a half”.
In the case of the building, the contribution from European Funds was around 3,6 million euros.
«The intervention started in 2018, then ended up having a stop there for about 6 months due to archeology. It was necessary to reinforce the work that had already been done. After that, the work resumed, but there have been some delays. Practically from the beginning, it suffered with the arrival of the pandemic, with the contingency plans and the need to reduce the number of people on site», framed Ana Paula Martins.
“It was also affected by a war. Delivery of materials, etc. it has not been easy and the company has had problems with a lack of manpower», he added.
The other intervention visited by Minister Ana Abrunhosa in Tavira was the restoration of altarpieces and pieces of sacred art in the Church of Santa Maria, “a work whose need had already been signaled by the Regional Directorate of Culture”.
«This restoration of the altarpieces ended up being delayed due to the pandemic, because the restoration techniques are not Portuguese and we had closed borders. We have started now and we also hope that it will be completed soon, despite the restoration work taking a little longer», concluded Ana Paula Martins.
As part of this intervention, it will have been discovered that the tombstone of the tomb of the 7 Martyrs, which exists in this temple, must be from the 1755th century and not after the XNUMX earthquake, as was thought, as Sul Informação gave an account in this article.
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