CECHAP (Centre for Studies of Culture, History, Art, and Heritage) is a not-for-profit cultural association, founded in 2011, that aims to decentralize studies in the areas of culture, history, arts and heritage, and to promote awareness of these areas to protect and promote local cultures. CECHAP focuses on the "Zona dos Mármores" (“Zone of Marbles”) area in which it is located, and aims to be a active player in safeguarding the cultural identities of the area’s communities, fighting desertification of the territory, and awakening younger generations to their culture through educational and training programmes and through collaborations with other institutions.
“Rota do Mármore do Anticlinal de Estremoz” (“Marble Route of the Estremoz Anticlinal”) is an industrial tourism product focused on the marble stone. The route promotes this natural resource together with other natural and cultural heritages. It promotes the local territory, not only the marble industry scene but also the cultural expressions that are intrinsic to marble.

Rota do Mármore do Anticlinal de Estremoz

Activities/Workshops:

Our creative tourism activities enable participants to directly interact with the natural resource (marble stone), in the city, at the worksites of the marble industry, and with workshops with "canteiro/marmoristas" sculptors to learning the techniques used in transforming raw marble to finished works.

Marble creative re-use workshop
Create art pieces, such as marble panels, using non-commercialized marble (“marble waste”). Get to know the different colors and textures of marble, promote your creativity in marble, and provide a use for the marble that is left without a commercial destiny.

“Be a canteiro” workshop
This workshop is about working the marble stone with a "canteiro," learning different ways to use and work the marble stone and learning how to use the tools. The goal is to let visitors experiment and create their own art using traditional techniques.

“Nature in the marble zone”: photography to creation
Create a connection between the marble tours and the flora and fauna living in the marble industry zone through a guided photography workshop focusing on plants and animals, then use those elements as a inspiration to create art works.

Contribute to a poetry “litoteca”
Build a "litoteca" of poetry with the goal of stimulate reading. Connect it to marble by creating a monument with quotes or small poems sculpted on the stone. This monument will be a unique way to promote local culture and the community and, at the same time, provide a way for the visitor to play a part in the monument and have their contribution immortalized forever.

Location: Vila Viçosa | Borba | Estremoz    Date: to announce

Language(s) available for the workshop(s):  Portuguese | English | French

For more information / Contact:
Website:  www.rotadomarmoreae.com
Email: geral@rotadomarmoreae.com