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CHOICE · EXPERIMENTARY · TAKE

A notebook.
Your findings.

Up to six proposals of Cabeceiras, in your own order, to do it at home, in company or on a break.

4 de 6 propostas escolhidas · faça-as ao seu ritmo.

PROPOSTA 1 DE 4 · Crafts and memories

Compare two portraits of Faia

Faia · sacred art, 2025

Roots and light renew a chapel

Olive-tree roots shaped the new altar and ambo in the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Amparo. The Archdiocese of Braga’s report of 6 October 2025 attributes the work to Atelier Amadeus and describes a refurbishment centred on the altar. A suspended cross forms part of the element called Corpo de Luz. Parish priest Rui Filipe Marques Araújo explained the lighting’s symbolism: groups of lights refer to the Trinity, the Evangelists and the Apostles. The publication also highlights the contribution of artists, technicians, workers and the community. The intervention shows heritage continuing to gain new forms and meanings; the 2025 report does not give visiting hours. The account presents the celebration, presided over by José Cordeiro, as a gathering of Faia with the communities of Arco de Baúlhe and Vila Nune. The choice of roots also receives a religious interpretation: according to the priest, transforming previously discarded material expresses renewal and redemption. This is the symbolic reading attributed to him in the report, distinct from the description of the materials. To understand the work, we can look at both layers: how it was made and the meaning given to it.

Vamos experimentar?

  1. Read the history of the chapels described in 1758 and this reading about the intervention of 2025.
  2. On a sheet, separate what each source describes: location and relationships with the community; materials, light and artistic creation.
  3. Write down a question that remains unanswered. The old reference does not allow dating each part of the current building.

A comparison of sources to make at home; does not require access to the interior of the chapel.

Open a história e os seus recursos →
Sources of this proposal

My findings

An idea, a drawing or a question to go on.

PROPOSTA 2 DE 4 · Read the landscape through the plants

Try observing

Hillside crops · olive botany

One leaf, two sides

The municipality’s landscape description includes olive trees on the hillsides of Cabeceiras. The cultivated olive has leaves that are grey-green above and silvery-grey beneath, where hairs grow. Its small flowers have four white petals joined at the base. The fruit is the olive, an oil-rich drupe. The University of Évora’s description follows the change from green to reddish and dark shades during ripening, but also mentions forms that remain green when ripe. Colour alone does not tell the fruit’s whole story. The connection from tree to olive oil continues in the story of the Ramil oil mill. The profile distinguishes the cultivated olive from its wild form, known in Portuguese as zambujeiro. The latter is described as having smaller leaves and fruits and thorny lower branches. This comparison shows why a single feature, such as the silvery underside of a leaf, does not explain every difference. The olive is evergreen: it retains foliage throughout the year. You can therefore return to the same tree in different seasons and compare leaves, flowers and fruits, without expecting to find them all at once.

An elongated green olive leaf with a pale central vein and other leaves behind it.
An olive leaf photographed in Stutensee, Germany, in 2011. Botanical illustration, not an observation from Cabeceiras. This view does not show both sides of the same leaf.
Photography: H. Zell · CC BY-SA 3.0
About this photograph

Date given at source: . Source consulted in 2026-11-07. EXIF orientation, proportional resizing and WebP conversion; no retouching or clipping of the file.

Request removal or correct the photo credit

Vamos experimentar?

  1. Observes the photograph: draw the contour and the central nerve of the sheet.
  2. The image does not show the two sides of the same sheet. Separate what you see from what the text explains on the lower face.
  3. If you observe an olive tree throughout the year, record separately leaves, flowers and fruits, without taking off material.

An activity to try at your own pace, without collecting specimens.

Open a história e os seus recursos →
Sources of this proposal

My findings

An idea, a drawing or a question to go on.

PROPOSTA 3 DE 4 · Travel through time

Two dates, two places

Documented history · 1514

Two charters, seven days

King Manuel I granted Cabeceiras its foral on 5 October 1514 and Vadym, now Abadim, its charter on 12 October. Seven days separate the documents: the territory’s administrative history passes through more than one place. Why revise the charters? The Torre do Tombo exhibition explains the broader setting: complaints concerned dues, outdated currencies and weights, and old texts that were difficult to interpret. The Manueline reform sought to review these documents. The local dates of 1514 belong to that wider movement; they do not mean the settlements began to exist that year. The work also required recording and preservation. The same exhibition describes preparation in triplicate: one copy for the municipal council, another for the holder of the rights and another for the Torre do Tombo. This general explanation helps show why an administrative document could have several copies. It does not identify the whereabouts of each copy of the two local charters here. On 5 October 2024, Casa do Tempo hosted a discussion of the charter’s 510th anniversary with José Viriato Capela and Porfírio Correia. The municipal report recalls both documents and their importance for administrative organisation. The commemoration opens a door to history; it does not replace reading the charters themselves.

Vamos experimentar?

  1. Draw a line for October 1514 and mark the days 5 and 12.
  2. Associate Cabeceiras and Vadym with each date. Add the current name of Vadym.
  3. Open a story of Abadim and distinguish the date of the document from the dates that the source assigns to the heritage.

An activity to try at your own pace, without collecting specimens.

Open a história e os seus recursos →
Sources of this proposal

My findings

An idea, a drawing or a question to go on.

PROPOSTA 4 DE 4 · Travel through time

Try observing

Gondiães and Vilar de Cunhas · memory and landscape

A house with three granaries

At Casa de Chouzas, three 19th-century granaries stand alongside the manor house highlighted by the municipality. The group connects two functions: living and storing the harvest. Rather than looking only at the main house, it is worth recognising the importance of buildings supporting agriculture. The introduction to Vilar de Cunhas places this heritage in a landscape of plateau and mountain, shaped by farming and pastoralism. House and granaries can be read in that working context, although the source does not detail each property’s production. The house’s dating is less firm: the municipality presents it as perhaps 19th-century, while assigning the granaries to the 19th century. That difference should remain visible. The photograph accompanying the reading shows the portal, not the three granaries. The heritage reference does not confirm access to the group.

Vamos experimentar?

  1. Look at the photo of the portal and list only the elements you can see.
  2. Compared to the three granaries mentioned in the text: what depends on the written description?
  3. Imagine a caption that distinguishes the frame of the photograph from the remaining patrimonial set.

An activity to try at your own pace, without collecting specimens.

Open a história e os seus recursos →
Sources of this proposal

My findings

An idea, a drawing or a question to go on.

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