Mosteiro de Arouca Open to Bids Under Revive Program

23 November 2018

The public tender for the concession of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Arouca (Mosteiro de Arouca) is the tenth under the Revive Program and gives interested parties 90 days to submit their proposals. The Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, said Friday that “this is an opportunity to return to the Monastery of Arouca to the level of importance it deserves and to cherish its remarkable architectural and artistic heritage.”

“Cultural heritage is a fundamental element in the construction of our identity and social memory. The Revive Program is thus an important contribution to safeguarding these assets and returning them to citizens,” he added.

The Deputy Minister of Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira, stressed that the Monastery of Arouca “has been classified as a National Monument for more than a century and will be an important factor in generating wealth, creating jobs and preserving the cultural identity of Arouca.”

The Monastery of Arouca is one of the 33 properties inscribed under Revive, a joint program by the Ministries of Economy, Culture and Finance with the collaboration of local authorities. The program aims to cherish and recover Portugal’s unused national heritage, to strengthen the attractiveness of regional destinations and further the development of various regions of the country.

The Monastery of Arouca was founded in the 12th century by the Cistercians and became relevant when D. Mafalda, daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal and the short-lived queen of Castile, lived there between 1220 and 1256 (where she was buried). The monastery has been in possession of the Portuguese state since 1834 (the year in which the religious orders were extinguished). It continued to hold religious functions until 1886, the year when the last nun passed away. In the following years, the monastery has had a number of other uses.

The property, which is located in the heart of the town of Arouca, was classified as a National Monument in 1910. Built in a classical Roman style, it was the object of major interventions in the 17th and18th centuries, in the Baroque style, and a two-phase restoration in the 20th century. The property will be given on concession for 50 years for use in tourism-linked activities.

Original Story: Construir

Translation: Richard Turner