A cultural heritage to be preserved

The Óbidos Lagoon Interpretation Center and the Collective Guarda Rios organized a workshop to conclude the construction of a replica of an Óbidos Lagoon fishermen's "hut".

The activity brought together several participants, including residents, the fishermen of Vau, owners of current huts in Óbidos Lagoon, and representatives of the local government, committed to the promotion and dissemination of the region's knowledge and traditions.

Nowadays, on the south shore of Óbidos Lagoon there are some fishermen's huts used for keeping fishing gear and resting. However, the first huts in Óbidos Lagoon, known as fishermen's "barracas", appeared at Ponta da Ardonha, near Braço da Barrosa, more than 200 years ago.

They began to be built by the old "Varinos", fishermen who came from Murtosa, in the district of Aveiro, on their first migrations. They had a different format and function than today. During the eight months of the Varinos' journey here, these huts served as dwellings - "there they cooked, slept, and kept what little they had.

The various testimonies provided further insight into the origin and history of these structures, the materials they were made of, from elements of nature collected around the lagoon, and their evolution into the current Fishermen's Huts of Óbidos Lagoon.

A cultural heritage to be preserved!

The hut resulting from this activity will be displayed next to the Óbidos Lagoon Interpretation Center where it can be seen by all its visitors.

This initiative resulted from a partnership between Coletivo Guarda Rios and Centro de Interpretação da Lagoa de Óbidos, with the collaboration of OSSO - Residências Artísticas na Aldeia de São Gregório (Caldas da Rainha) and Junta de Freguesia da Foz do Arelho, and was supported by the Caldas da Rainha City Hall.

About the Collective Guarda-Rios

Guarda Rios is an artistic research-action project that intends, starting from riverside territories, to reflect on the different dimensions - artistic, cultural, social, environmental - of the relations of human beings with their natural and built (anthropized) environment. It is intended that the observation-listening-research practices, developed in residencies along different rivers throughout the country, reveal multiple dimensions of the local realities that will emerge, either through artistic works or through actions in loco. The Guarda-Rios project is supported by the Direção-Geral das Artes.

About the Óbidos Lagoon Interpretation Center

The Interpretation Center of Óbidos Lagoon resulted from a project of the Participatory Budget Portugal (PBP) coordinated by the League for the Protection of Nature in partnership with the Municipality of Caldas da Rainha, the Municipality of Óbidos and the City Council - Association for Citizenship.

For more information about the Interpretation Center for the Óbidos Lagoon, click here.