Great attendance and enthusiasm
Published 30 November 2023
What exactly is SKREI? The open information meeting held at the end of November gave the audience many answers.
26 September 2023
From 14 to 16 September, project partners of the Coastal Memory Fort project met in Lourinhã, Portugal.
Museum Nord is part of the Coastal Memory Fort project (EEA Grants Portugal), which aims to restore the Paimogo Fort in Lourinhã, Portugal, using traditional building techniques.
Experiences in Lourinhã
The project gropu visited interesting cultural sites in Lourinhã: Lourinhã Museum, museum about the Battle of Vimeiro in 1808, fisheries and ocean museum, dinosaur park, and most importantly, the Paimogo fort.
Lourinhã has a diverse history. Dinosaur fossils from the Jurassic period have been found here, and today the finds are actively researched through international cooperation at Lourinhã Museum and Dino Park Lourinhã. The area has also recently been certified as a UNESCO Global Geopark for its unique geology and natural history.
Lourinhã Museum also showcases the local community development and rural life, which is a similarity with several of our museums. The interpretive centre for the Battle of Vimeiro in 1808 is also an example of local history being highlighted and made relevant.
Paimogo Fort
The Paimogo Fort is one of several forts along the coast of Portugal. The fort has great potential for development, and several approaches to interesting storytelling.
The cliffs at Paimogo beach show that there were several rivers in the area 152 million years ago. Fossils have also been found of dinosaurs, turtles, crocodiles, and other smaller mammals.
At Paimogo Beach, English troops landed in August 1808 to take part in the Battle of Vimeiro against the French forces.
Today, research is being conducted on how to preserve and partially reconstruct the Paimogo fort. One challenge is that the area is prone to erosion. The Paimogo Fort and the surrounding area are of great value to the locals, and in the future they want to make it attractive to both local and other visitors.
Our contribution
One of our contributions to the Costal Memory Fort (EEA Grant Portugal) is to conduct a workshop during the visit to Lourinhã. In the workshop, we shared our experience as a museum and tourism actor.
In addition to that, we reflected with project partners how local anchoring, identity, preservation and dissemination of local cultural sites can be done.
Public meeting
The Coastal Memory Fort project meeting in Portugal concluded with an open public meeting. Here, the project was presented to local audiences and stakeholders.
