There is already a protocol for the conservation works of the Romanesque Church of S. Pedro de Rates. The information was provided by the municipal executive of Póvoa de Varzim, at the meeting held in Paços do Concelho on Tuesday (27).
The work is divided into two phases. Firstly, the broken roof and stained glass windows will be repaired; Afterwards, work will be carried out on the outside of the church and in the churchyard. The City Council will be the owner of the work, being responsible for managing these two phases of rehabilitation.
The protocol, sent by the Regional Directorate of Culture, comes “after much insistence on the part of the Chamber”, defended the vice-president of the municipality, Luís Diamantino. “We will start as soon as possible with Estamo, a public company that is now responsible for the maintenance of national monuments,” he said. The estimate is that the first phase of the work will cost between 50 and 100 thousand euros. “But this will be an application that we will have to make to the Cultural Heritage emergency fund”, said Luís Diamantino.
For the mayor, the Church of Rates “is an architectural jewel”, recalling that “it is the only Cluniac construction that exists in the country, and which is applying, in the Cluniacense network, as a World Heritage Site”.
João Trocado, councilor for the Socialist Party, highlighted this protocol as a “very positive point”. “We hope that, with the ball being in the municipality’s court, this candidacy can be developed much more quickly and the competition carried out, the type of award that is necessary to be able to resolve a situation that is urgent and that has been hanging here for quite some time. time,” he said.
This text is part of an article published this week in the MAIS/Semanário newspaper, which you can read in full in the paper edition or in the digital edition (PDF).
