“Unfortunately, we are currently in a management phase, so I am unable to develop the project. However, the idea is for this International Center in Guimarães to receive fixed annual financial support and be dynamic in the future, similar to the foundations based in Porto and Lisbon,” stated Dalila Rodrigues to journalists in Guimarães, following the signing of protocols for the rehabilitation of the Padrão D. João I and the Church of the Monastery of Santa Marinha da Costa.
With this initiative, the CIAJG, established during the European Capital of Culture (CEC) in 2012, would be on par with other similar structures like the Belém Cultural Center (CCB) in Lisbon and the Casa da Música in Porto, both of which emerged from their respective CEC events.
“Guimarães emerged from the European Capital of Culture, and now we have Évora as a Capital of Culture, also with the aim of ensuring good operation and cultural and artistic offerings in the future. I am here to highlight the need for a budget [for the CIAJG] of around 300,000 euros per year,” stated the official.
Opened in June 2012, as part of that year’s Guimarães CEC, the CIAJG houses part of the “collection of artist José de Guimarães, which includes African art, pre-Columbian art, ancient Chinese art, and a representative set of his work.”
José de Guimarães, his artistic name, was born in 1939 in the Minho city and began his artistic journey in the 1960s, having received a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1976 and 1977.
The CIAJG is managed by the cooperative A Oficina, also responsible for other venues in the city, like the Villa Flor Cultural Center and the House of Memory.
The Minister of Culture and the Minister of Defense, Nuno Melo, visited Guimarães, Braga district, today to sign protocols with the municipality for the rehabilitation of the Padrão de D. João I (Padrão de São Lázaro), which was vandalized and destroyed in August 2024, with an estimated cost of around 30,000 euros.
“We have also signed a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Guimarães for the enhancement, restoration, protection, interpretation, and mediation of all historical, architectural, and archaeological heritage. It is crucial for this memorandum to have tangible effects, specifically, and immediately, in the rehabilitation of the Church of Santa Marinha da Costa,” explained Dalila Rodrigues.
According to the minister, an “emergency” intervention will be carried out this year on the Church of Santa Marinha da Costa to replace the roof, with the expectation of a more comprehensive intervention in the future.
“In Santa Marinha da Costa, there will be an intervention through the Cultural Heritage Safeguard Fund, which Portugal’s Heritage possesses for emergency situations. The Church is in an emergency situation. The roof should have been replaced during architect Fernando Távora’s intervention in the hostel, but the Church was left behind and should not have been,” the official lamented.
