Rock Art Center reopens with new project

The Tagus Valley Rock Art Interpretation Center (CIART), in Vila Velha de Ródão, reopens on Friday with a new museum project that highlights one of the most important collections of post-Paleolithic art in Europe.

CIART closed to the public in 2020 and the space underwent a major renovation and expansion, which included the construction of a new entrance and the creation of new exhibition galleries, a documentation center, and multimedia and audiovisual spaces.

According to the municipality of Vila Velha de Ródão, in the district of Castelo Branco, the center also serves as a tribute to a generation of archaeologists and students, whose dedication and zeal ensured, from the end of 1971, the cataloging and recording of this valuable heritage and who would become known as the Tagus Generation.

The project represented an investment of 953 thousand euros, with 493 thousand euros contributed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) , through the Centro 2020 program. This amount is supplemented by a further 276 thousand euros for the new museum project, with 96 thousand euros contributed by the ERDF, through the Interreg Spain — Portugal program.

CIART was inaugurated in 2012 and its main mission is to support the study and preservation of the Tagus Valley rock art complex, consisting of more than 20,000 engravings scattered along 40 kilometers of the banks of the Tagus River and which was the target of several archaeological rescue campaigns, from 1971, until its almost complete submersion, in 1974, by the reservoir resulting from the construction of the Fratel dam.

The new project involved a complete redesign of the interior space and the expansion of the building, as well as the definition of a new museum project, which highlights the documentary and photographic collection resulting from the archaeological rescue campaigns.

The center's new permanent exhibition presents a geological and geomorphological framework of the landscape, inviting visitors to understand the likely way of life during hunter-gatherer times and the diverse manifestations of rock art in the area. From the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods to the present day, visitors are taken on a journey through time in a unique region.

According to the municipality, "more than a museum, the goal is to make the center a space that brings together researchers, students and university centers and that acts as a gateway for research into one of the most important rock art complexes in Europe."

From the 21st and during the autumn and winter, CIART can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday, between 10:00 am and 12:30 pm, and 2:00 pm and 5:30 pm, closed on Sundays and Mondays.