Portimão’s old customs building will strengthen cultural facilities in the city centre.
On 7 October, an agreement was signed between the Municipality of Portimão and the Portuguese State, represented by ESTAMO—Participações Imobiliárias S.A., for the transfer of powers for the management of public real estate assets relating to Domingos Leonardo Vieira’s mansion. The mansion is where the Customs House and the Tax Guard used to operate, and it will be transformed into a cultural space.
From now on, the building will be restored and adapted by the Municipality of Portimão in order to create a new cultural space with various facilities, including a conference room and exhibition rooms, especially for contemporary art exhibitions and the display of intangible heritage. This new agreement will be in force for the next 50 years.
The municipal objective is to provide the building located at Nos. 3 to 7 Rua Júdice Biker, with the ideal conditions to extend the cultural facilities in this prime area of the city.
This agreement for the transfer of responsibilities represents the fulfilment of the guarantee given last May by the current mayor of Portimão, Álvaro Bila. During the public presentation of the project for the Casa Manuel Teixeira Gomes Museum Centre, Bila announced the plans for the historic building, which will now be linked to the public museum.
The signing ceremony, held in Lisbon, brought together 17 municipalities from all over the country and involved 27 unused or vacant state properties that will be transferred to local authority management.
