Points of Interest

Municipal Museum of Arouca

The Municipal Museum of Arouca was symbolically inaugurated on International Museum Day, in 2008, and seeks to preserve the memories and traditions of a markedly rural people, but also to note the vast archaeological and geological heritage and also the biodiversity of our municipality. Located near one of the entrances to the village, it has a space dedicated to the permanent exhibition and, at the same time, has a space for temporary exhibitions. In short, the Municipal Museum is a space where you can get to know Arouca and the journey of its people in a living space that awaits your visit.

Museum of Sacred Art

The Arouca Museum of Sacred Art is located in the Monastery of Santa Maria de Arouca, in the Historic Center of the Town. As the history of Arouca can never be dissociated from the history of its Monastery, it is in the Museum of Sacred Art that we find evidence of this history, represented in painting, sculpture, goldsmithing, furniture and various religious objects. Since 1933, the people of Arouca, thanks to the Royal Brotherhood of Queen Saint Mafalda, have managed to preserve the valuable collection that we can admire today, as well as the grandeur of the Monastery itself and its invaluable interior decoration. The Museum has a rich legacy of precious objects such as manuscripts, clothing, jewelry and others, and is considered one of the most important private national museums of sacred art.

Arouca Municipal Library

The Municipal Library was opened on July 20, 1967, by the City Hall of Arouca, in the building that today houses the headquarters of ADRIMAG, in Praça Brandão de Vasconcelos, known as the “Old Jail”, in partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which held the bibliographic collection and ensured its circulation and loan in the municipality, through its famous brown vans. With the signing of the first Program Contract carried out in December 1987, between the State Secretariat for Culture and the ex. The Portuguese Institute of Books and Reading (current General Directorate of Books and Libraries) and the Municipal Council of Arouca, began the project to requalify the building adjacent to the Monastery of Arouca, known as “Casa dos Padres” or “Velho Hospital”, which, through the architectural project of Arq. Manuel de Queiroz was redesigned so that the Municipal Library of Arouca could gain autonomy, grow and be properly installed in order to ensure all the functions and services of a public library.

Memorial Library of D. Domingos de Pinho Brandão

The D. Domingos de Pinho Brandão Study Center was founded in 1992 by a group of intellectuals and entities who found in the formation of this association a way to continue the scientific-cultural project of their patron. The President of the Eng.º António de Almeida Foundation, Dr. Fernando Aguiar-Branco, occupied the position of founding member, number one, followed by the President of the Municipal Council of Arouca, the President of the Rainha Santa Mafalda Social Center and the Judge of the Royal Brotherhood of Rainha Santa Mafalda. It was based in the Monastery of Arouca. Article 3 of the statutes clarifies the mission of the Study Center: “to continue the work of D. Domingos de Pinho Brandão in promoting culture, as the creation of a people situated in a time and place; and in researching and disseminating art, particularly that preserved in Arouca”.