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Places of interest

 

Paul do Boquilobo Nature Reserve

The Paul do Boquilobo Natural Reserve is located between the confluence of the Almonda and Tagus rivers, along the junction of the municipalities of Torres Novas and Golegã in the southeastern part of the parish of Brogueira.

 

Since 1981, the Paul do Boquilobo Nature Reserve has been considered by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve. This was the first Portuguese protected area to integrate the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The importance of the Reserve is recognized as a natural wetland and as a shelter for a large number of birds, as a breeding, feeding and resting place on migration routes.

 

www.icnf.pt |www.naturalpt.pt

House-Studio Carlos Relvas

Between 1871 and 1875, the Chalet, as it is known in Golegã, was built on the initiative of the wealthy farmer Carlos Relvas. The Casa-Estúdio has unique characteristics worldwide, as singular is the fact that it was built from scratch, as a monument to the precursors of photography and with the exclusive objective of hosting a laboratory and studio dedicated specifically to the development of an art and that provided Relvas is a place of excellence for developing your negatives and testing the new methods of that simultaneously scientific and technological discipline.

 

www.casarelvas.com |Informative leaflet

Mother Church of Golegã

The current church was built in the first half of the 16th century, replacing a small Gothic parish church that existed on this site. The work was partially funded by the Crown, with the remainder being borne by the residents. This fact could not have been unrelated to the great interest shown by King Manuel I in the town, benefiting from his frequent stays in Almeirim, not far from Golegã. The king's appreciation is very evident in the church's architecture itself, as his personal symbols – the royal shield and the armillary sphere – are placed at various points in the building.

 

Located in Largo da Imaculada Conceição, patron saint of the main church and patron saint of the village of Golegã, it is a vast rectangular building, consisting of three naves, topped by a spire with a polygonal base that frames a beautiful Manueline portico.

 

www.cm-goleg.pt

Typewriter Museum

The Municipal Typewriter Museum (MME) is part of the City Council Museum Network and is housed in the Golegã Municipal Library building (top floor). The collection, made up of more than 300 typewriters, is varied and includes copies manufactured all over the world, between the end of the 20th century and the end of the 20th century. XIX, in the 80s and 90s, and for most of the 20th century, until the 1960s and 1970s.

 

The aim of this Museum is to make known this collection composed of machines produced by different manufacturers, spanning the 19th and 20th centuries.

 

www.cm-goleg.pt | Informative Leaflet

Quinta da Brôa

"At the entrance to Azinhaga, a huge white and sober house borders the dirt road that leads to Mato de Miranda. An iron gate, topped by a laborious tangle of wrought iron, where the initials "RJC" by Rafael José are visible da Cunha, descendant of the Veiga family, and dating from 1831, gives the entrance to this property that once belonged to the counts of Ribeira Grande. , a large courtyard, surrounded by ivy-covered buildings, reveals the history of many generations and the daily life of an agricultural house.

 

Quinta da Broa is the center of a vast number of farms located in the municipalities of Golegã, Chamusca, Rio Maior and Santarém, and, above all, it is the center of a renowned stud farm: Veiga iron is a guarantee of quality. ."

 

www.quintadabroa.com

EQUUSPOLIS🇧🇷Martins Correia Municipal Museum

The Equuspolis building, located in Horta da Baralha, which has the silhouette of a horse on the façade, consists of three floors where   the João Pedro Veiga Art Gallery and the Virtual Equus are located, where people have the opportunity to watch a 15-minute three-dimensional slideshow about the history of the horse and its connection to Golegã over the centuries.

 

Also in this building is the Martins Correia Municipal Museum, where the collection of Master Martins Correia, made up of around 600 pieces including sculptures, paintings and drawings, is presented to visitors.

 

Outside, Equuspolis has a surrounding area where the Youth Park is located, which includes a huge garden, several recreational and leisure areas (radical park, amphitheater, esplanade, pier with boats for taking trips to Alverca).

 

www.cm-goleg.pt |Informativo 🇧🇷Facebook

 

 

Quinta dos Álamos

In the heart of Lezíria, in the Equestrian Municipality of Golegã, Quinta dos Álamos, honors its history and tradition, of more than three centuries, welcoming visitors as a host of recognized merit.

 

One of the three great agricultural and livestock references in the municipality, Quinta dos Álamos offers its guests the weight of history, respect for the environment and cultural and artistic activity, the genesis of its foundation.

In this place of brave people, the visitor will be able to enjoy the generational experience of people dedicated to the Earth, respectful of customs and preservation of the environment.

 

Enriching activities that will show that ecology is also a Portuguese concept, passed down from generation to generation, revealing the ancestral respect we have for this Mother, who gives everything, who has everything, who demands everything. And that we at Quinta dos Álamos honor every day.

 

www.quintadosalamos.pt

José Saramago Foundation - Azinhaga

The José Saramago Foundation delegation in Azinhaga is located in a building in Largo da Praça da Azinhaga and has an internet café, a library with all its works and a bookshop. 

 

Downstairs, the Foundation has Saramago's complete work in several languages, which invites you to read. In the same space, the internet cafe, with free access, provides two computers to collect materials for work, consult the latest news or navigate to distant countries, at the distance of a click.

 

On the first floor, there is a space with the original book "As Pequenas Memórias" - which evokes Saramago's childhood in the village and also the holidays he spent there until he was 15 - and some objects belonging to his maternal grandparents. Among these objects are the bed alluded to in the book "As Pequenas Memórias", in which he slept with the weakest piglets to warm them in the winter, and the chest of beans, which was at the entrance to the house.

 

www.josesaramago.org

Humberto Delgado Memorial House

Humberto Delgado was born on May 15, 1906, in the small village of Boquilobo, Torres Novas, in a simple house in the main square of the village, now restored and transformed into a museum space dedicated to his memory.

 

The original house consisted only of a single storey house from the 19th century, with an attached hayloft, and comprising a large kitchen with fireplace, living room, and two bedrooms. The main façade, where the kitchen and living room open, has a window and two wicket doors. The set was acquired in 1993 by Engineer Joaquim Marques de Oliveira, to be offered to the local Parish Council, with the aim of installing the future Humberto Delgado Museum there. Adaptation works began that same year. The hayloft, to the right of the main property, was recovered and expanded with an upper floor, according to a project by sculptor José Aurélio.

 

The Memorial House opened in May 1996, on the 90th anniversary of the general's birth.

Agricultural Museum of Riachos

Humberto Delgado was born on May 15, 1906, in the small village of Boquilobo, Torres Novas, in a simple house in the main square of the village, now restored and transformed into a museum space dedicated to his memory.

 

The original house consisted only of a single storey house from the 19th century, with an attached hayloft, and comprising a large kitchen with fireplace, living room, and two bedrooms. The main façade, where the kitchen and living room open, has a window and two wicket doors. The set was acquired in 1993 by Engineer Joaquim Marques de Oliveira, to be offered to the local Parish Council, with the aim of installing the future Humberto Delgado Museum there. Adaptation works began that same year. The hayloft, to the right of the main property, was recovered and expanded with an upper floor, according to a project by sculptor José Aurélio.

 

The Memorial House opened in May 1996, on the 90th anniversary of the general's birth.

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Almonda Spring Cave

The cave at the source of Almonda extends over more than 10 km, constituting a true sanctuary of national speleology since, as a whole, it represents the most extensive karst network currently known in Portugal. It is made up of several underground streams that give rise to the source of the Almonda River. 
With regard to cultural heritage, there are several archaeological sites, ranging from the Lower Paleolithic to the Roman period.
The cave was classified as a Property of Public Interest on November 30, 1993.
The Almonda Caves Interpretation Center (CIGA), located in the parish of Pedrógão, is an infrastructure dedicated to supporting speleological activities.
Located in Vale da Serra, in the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park area, the Interpretation Center is a support structure for the Almonda Cave, which promotes programs aimed at ecological and cultural tourism. It has an interpretive museum space, auditorium and accommodation. The available programs include preparation for the visit to the Cave with an introduction to Speleology, progression techniques and use of equipment, and underground diving.

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Torres Novas Castle

A 12th-century Arab fortress, Torres Novas Castle, definitively conquered in 1190 by D. Sancho I, is a symbol of the political importance of Torres Novas in medieval times. Surrounded by a wall with eleven towers and the mayor's house (14th century), the castle has, inside the walled enclosure, a pleasant and well-tended garden. It underwent several reconstructions, of which those of D. Sancho I, D. Fernando and the one that was made on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of Independence and Restoration (1940) stand out.

 The ex-libris of the city was classified as a National Monument on June 16, 1910. A physical and landscape recovery project, with the construction of pedestrian circuits and a leisure area, made the monument and surrounding area even more pleasant places. From the towers that surround it, you can enjoy excellent views over the city.

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Caves of Lapas

Considered of public interest in 1943, the Caves of Lapas were discovered around the Neolithic era (10,000 BC), but it is believed that the Romans were the first to explore them for the extraction of limestone tuff, intended for civil construction.

The cavities would already exist, originated by the limestone massif and the karst action of the Almonda river, but they are artificial caves, created by the action of the picks on the stone, easily extracting the limestone tuff necessary for the construction. In the 30's of the 20th century, Neolithic artefacts and bones were found next to the river, and it is considered whether the Caves served as a shelter for people older than the Romans.

There are several of these underground “caves” throughout the village of Lapas, which today support houses and serve as workshops or cellars. Part of these Caves is preserved and protected, making it possible to visit around 700 square meters of this natural monument. The rest is enclosed by “walls”, built by human action. This “natural” museum is located on a narrow street, difficult for two vehicles to pass through and with almost no parking, in the heart of Lapas. Anyone wishing to visit the Caves will have to leave the car further away, next to the river, and walk to the site. 

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Roman ruins of Villa Cardílio

Classified as a National Monument on January 24, 1967, the Ruins of Villa Cardílio are located about three kilometers from Torres Novas and uncovered by excavations carried out by Colonel Afonso do Paço, from 1962 onwards. set of foundations, column bases and floors decorated with different patterns of “tesselae” belonging to an ancient Roman farmhouse composed of three main elements: entrance, peristyle and exedra.
From the vast collection collected, the Municipal Museum Carlos Reis, presents in the permanent nucleus of archeology, namely in the exhibition «O Canto de Avita» coins from the 17th and 19th centuries. II, III and IV AD ceramics, bronzes, glass, amphorae, rings and even a statue of Eros. 
 

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Carlos Reis Municipal Museum

Gustavo Pinto Lopes was responsible for the initiative to found the Municipal Museum of Torres Novas in 1933, which opened on June 20, 1937. Gustavo Pinto Lopes would be the first curator of the museum, having been appointed to the position in 1935.

Seven years later, on May 13, 1942, the Municipality of Torres Novas decided to name the Museum after Carlos Reis, a naturalist painter born in the Municipality in 1863. The Museum was reinstalled in 1993 in Casa Mogo, its place of origin, building testimony of one of the noblest families of Torrejas with a known past linked to Torres Novas that dates back to 1496.

Of the museum's collections, the nucleus of the naturalist painter Carlos Reis, born in Torres Novas in 1863, stands out, consisting of 30 works by the painter, representative of his quality as a landscape artist and portraitist.

The Carlos Reis Municipal Museum's mission is to constitute itself as a repository of the heritage and historical-cultural memory of the municipality of Torres Novas and the region that is historically linked to it, extracting from the material testimonies it gathers, a global vision of the territory and its people through the ages. 

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Fish Market

The characteristic building from 1885, in green tones and glazed in a modern style, was very active at the beginning of the 20th century, as a point of sale for fish in the city of Torres Novas. At the end of its life as a market, it also had vegetable stalls. It would be closed in the 90s, when the new municipal market was inaugurated.

The space still residually hosted some events, but remained closed for about twenty years, without knowing very well what to do with it. Meanwhile, the deterioration became visible to anyone passing by, in the historic center of Torres Novas.

In 2014, the works finally advanced, converting it into a large and refurbished space, capable of hosting different associative and cultural events.

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