Interview: Maria da Conceição Luzia Marcos Raposo – President of the Board of Directors of the Luzia Esteves Pinheiro Family Foundation

“Giving Malhada Sorda the value it deserves, both in terms of heritage and culture, is our goal”

Maria da Conceição Luzia Marcos Raposo, President of the Board of Directors of the Luzia Esteves Pinheiro Family Foundation, was born in France, the daughter of immigrants from Malhada Sorda, in the municipality of Almeida .

He attended primary school in Malhada Sorda, went to Colégio da Cerdeira, in Guarda and ended up in Lisbon at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

She is passionate about reading and enjoys traveling. Nature and encounters with the Supreme are her safe haven.

A GUARDA: The restoration and recovery works of the Malhada Sorda Parish Church will be inaugurated on Corpus Christi Day, June 19th. What program has the Luzia Esteves Pinheiro Family Foundation prepared for that day?

Maria da Conceição: Preparations for the celebration of this day are being made in collaboration with the Lord's Stewards.

We will have the solemn mass that will be celebrated at 10:00 am followed by a procession through the streets that will be previously decorated by the inhabitants.

At 6:30 pm we will have the opening concert with the Orquestra Clássica do Centro.

Honoring this space and the inhabitants of Malhada with an extraordinary musical moment seemed appropriate to us.

The musical part of the mass will also be the responsibility of 5 members of the Centro Classical Orchestra.

We will broadcast live on RTP1, which is an honor for the Malhada Sorda community and its diaspora.

A GUARDA: In concrete terms, what did this recovery project consist of?

Maria da Conceição: We have 4 components in this project:

– Restoration of all the sacred art components. All the elements were taken to the N-Restauros workshop in Vila Nova de Gaia and were subjected to specific restoration processes. It was a slow and very delicate process. The frescoes were worked on in situ, as there was obviously no alternative.

– Interior and exterior renovation of the building: here the entire church and surroundings were subjected to a specific analysis with cutting-edge methodologies, using non-intrusive methods, such as geophysical prospecting and photogrammetric surveys.

– Restoration of the bell tower: here it was essential to stabilize the tower. It was in very poor condition. The cleaning of the entire façade, its treatment and the rehabilitation of a space of the old prison have given us back a very dignified tower.

– Restoration and rehabilitation of the surrounding area that we call Reduto: we gave the Reduto a new lease of life by transforming it into an olive garden. It is a space that now invites us to socialize and meditate.

THE GUARD: Can we say that it was a very demanding, meticulous and expensive job?

Maria da Conceição: Very demanding, very thorough and very expensive. Everything was duly analyzed and monitored by the competent specialists and entities. Cutting-edge methodologies that were non-invasive were used.

During the development of the project, several adjustments were necessary due to surprises, some good, others not so good. However, both the Foundation and the technical team worked to restore to this heritage all the dignity that is rightfully its.

A GUARDA: How did the team responsible for the restoration deal with the discovery of some frescoes on the walls of the Church?

Maria da Conceição: This discovery caused great emotion in everyone. How to deal with this surprise? It wasn't easy.

We had to think about recovery and preservation. The people who recovered the frescoes are national references in working in these areas. Sharing this discovery with everyone was imperative. The people of Malhada were extremely proud when the existence of these frescoes was revealed. We are honored that Malhada has this work in its church.

A GUARDA: In other words, the discovery of the frescoes further enriched the religious heritage of Malhada Sorda?

Maria da Conceição: This was one of the very pleasant surprises. The origin of these frescoes can be traced back to the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century. But why these fabulous frescoes are in our church is a mystery for now. This church was initially dedicated to St. John and at a certain point the dedication was changed to St. Michael. What motivated this change? What influences gave rise to this change? Who knows, maybe one day we will have these answers.

A GUARDA: Now that the work is complete, how do the Foundation and Malhada Sorda intend to publicize and promote this extremely valuable heritage?

Maria da Conceição: With the aim of promoting the site and making it possible to visit it, a protocol was established with the parish administrator and the Parish Council with the aim of facilitating collaboration between the two parties. In another aspect, the Foundation intends to promote this heritage in future projects. We will analyse the best modus operandi with the responsible entities.

A GUARDA: With the completion of the works on the Parish Church, does the Foundation intend to move forward with any other projects linked to religious heritage?

Maria da Conceição: We would like to develop some more projects, but we are dependent on factors outside the Foundation. Giving Malhada Sorda the value it deserves, both in terms of heritage and culture, is our goal. Religious heritage is one of the great riches of this village. Giving it visibility is one of our desires.