By ELOISE WALTON [email protected]
A total of eight million Euros is to be spent on a renovation project, which is due to be completed in 2010, at Sagres headland and fortress.
During the presentation of the renovation project at the Fortaleza de Sagres auditorium on September 5, Portugal’s secretary of state for tourism, Bernardo Trindade said: “The 500,000 people who visit this monument each year is a sign of its importance not only for culture but also for tourism.”
This project has been created as a cooperative effort between the national tourism board, the regional development commission (CCDR), and the ministry of culture over the last two years.
“In 2007, we knew that it would be a long and difficult project,” said João Faria, President of the CCDR, “but the headland is an area that cannot be wasted because it already has an image and we cannot allow it to continue to become degraded.”
The renovation project which is being carried out by Parque Expo will include the use of renewable energies such as solar panels to provide electricity.
The works are to take place along the access to the headland and the Praça de Armas e Rosa dos Ventos.
Nossa Senhora da Graça church will be undergoing restoration as part of the project and the fortresses auditorium will also be modernised as well as the gift shop and café.
Outdoor lighting will be erected near the fortress, sign posts and information boards for pedestrian visitors as well as walkways will also be developed as part of the project.
An exhibition was also inaugurated on the same day at the Sagres headland, which will be open to the public until 2010 and includes seven themed stations that teach visitors in an interactive way about the history of wind power from the time of the discoveries until the present day.
The auditorium will also feature a film entitled Sagres, O Cabo do Sonho, Sagres, the headland of dreams, which will tell visitors about the importance of the headland and the discoveries that were made by sailors who left from it.
For more information about Sagres fortress or the exhibition, please telephone 282 620 140.
1″>news
