Tourism

Almeida Military Historical Museum (Casemates)

Brief HistoryLocated beneath the Bastion of S. João de Deus, the Casemates (Casamatas) or Old Quarters (Quarteis Velhos) — as they were also called due to the lack of barracks for infantry housing — are twenty underground rooms, built with semicircular vaults, and only three lack a ventilation tunnel.   FunctionalitiesTheir functionality was linked to two essential aspects: peace and war. They served to shelter the town’s population and as a food warehouse. Regarding water supply, they have their own cistern and well.

Vilar Formoso Fronteira da Paz – Memorial to the Refugees and to Consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes

General Concept of the Museological Center – The Exhibition Space The exhibition space conveys, "almost" physically, the experience of these European refugees who, during World War II, had as one of their few chances of salvation the escape through Portugal, staying here until their subsequent departure to, mostly, the new continent. – America. The New Entrance Volume To the East, on the existing platform, a New Volume was created with a cubic shape, measuring approximately 4.50 m on each side, which is attached to the Small Warehouse (Armazém Pequeno), aligned with its east facade. This Volume houses the Entrance/Reception space of the new Museological Center/Memorial. The Small Warehouse The exhibition space begins, then, in this building that integrates the first two sections: Section 1 – People Like Us and Section 2 – The Beginning of the Nightmare. The shape of this building allows for the design of a space that develops lengthwise (corridor-like), thus creating a continuous path that adapts very well to the proposed exhibition content.