Côa Museum celebrates 15 years with almost half a million visitors

Opened on July 30, 2010, the Côa Museum reaches its 15th anniversary with a total of 473,020 visitors, and with the highest annual number of entries being recorded in 2024, when 44,824 people visited its exhibition rooms which, in addition to the permanent collection, around the Côa rock art heritage, host temporary exhibitions, in a dialogue with the contemporary production of Portuguese and foreign artists.

In terms of annual average, the 473,020 visitors over the last 14 years to the Côa Museum, located just over two kilometers from the city of Vila Nova de Foz Côa, in the district of Guarda, is around 33,787, and it is necessary to take into account the current year, 2025, and the first year of activity, 2010, which are not counted in full, representing only six and five months, respectively, of open doors.

For the interim president of the Côa Parque Foundation, Domingos Lopes, who oversees the museum, this almost half a million visitors to the museum is "a highly expressive number", as he told the Lusa news agency.

"This is a structure that, from the outset, aims to attract visitors and distribute them throughout the Alto Douro and Côa Valley. It should be noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, even in a difficult context, this was a Ministry of Culture structure with an entry performance equivalent to museum structures located in large urban centers," highlighted Domingos Lopes.

The official also highlighted that the Côa Museum, a structure located in the interior of the country, continues to have a capacity to attract a "very significant" public that "goes far beyond national borders."

Domingos Lopes recalled that, in an initial phase of the "Côa phenomenon", and in what became the genesis of the Côa Parque Foundation, there was some division between the construction of the Côa Museum and the construction of the Baixo Côa Dam.

"I think the museum has reinforced the idea that the quality of a heritage with a global impact is worth the effort," he stressed, because "it's about dignifying such a valuable heritage, which makes us proud."

Domingos Lopes added that the Côa Museum has an impact both regionally and nationally, contributing to the safeguarding of the heritage of the Côa Valley Archaeological Park, deserving continued preservation.

"The museum serves as a structure that attracts large numbers of visitors to the region, safeguarding the original rock art of the Côa and the entire region," he stated. "It is equipped to receive many visitors for longer periods of time, thus relieving pressure on the archaeological sites of the Côa Valley."

The Côa Museum also houses a Living Science Center, which has conducted numerous experimental archaeology activities for schools in the region and nationwide. It's a facility where, daily, several languages besides Portuguese are spoken.

The museum currently has exhibitions dedicated to Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso and Nadir Afonso.

"Nadir Afonso: Territory of Absolute Freedom" and "A Marginália de Amadeo" each bring together around fifty works by "two figures of Portuguese art", and are part of the program of the Portuguese Contemporary Art Network (REPAC).

In the museum's exhibition program, which continues to combine contemporary expression with the rock art of the Archaeological Park, a project dedicated to Pablo Picasso may later succeed these temporary exhibitions.

For now, "Nadir Afonso: Territory of Absolute Freedom" and "Amadeo's Marginália" are the museum's big bets for the summer.

The exhibition dedicated to Nadir Afonso will run until November 2nd, while "A Marginalia de Amadeo" will be on display until next Sunday.

The experiences at the Côa Museum are also described by its technicians, archaeologists and other professionals.

Senior human resources technician Alexandrina Alonso, one of the museum's longest-serving employees, explained to Lusa that, over the past 15 years, she has had the privilege of experiencing every stage of this structure: "Since the first challenges of the museum's inauguration, I have had the privilege of witnessing the growth of this unit both nationally and internationally. Over the years, I have grown professionally and personally. Contact with the rock art of the Côa Valley, combined with the region's unique landscape, strengthens my affinity for this territory every day," she emphasized.

Dalila Correia, another senior technician who has also been at the museum since its inception, said that it "is a masterpiece of architecture and begins by fulfilling its scientific objective," of preserving the Upper Paleolithic art of which the region is rich.

"As the Côa Valley is the largest open-air rock art site in the world, the museum building is a good example of contemporary art," he said.

The Côa Museum was designed by Porto architects Camilo Rebelo and Tiago Pimentel. Construction began in January 2007 and was inaugurated on July 30, 2010.

The building's design is based on the idea that "Paleolithic art in the Côa Valley is perhaps the first manifestation of 'Land art.'" According to the descriptive report of the preliminary project from July 2005, the museum's "unique premise" is its perfect "integration into the landscape," its body becoming a "strong and affirmative gesture" and a "subtle mark, sensitive to the topography, barely modifying the profile of the hill, and in dialogue with the landscape."

Located in the city of Vila Nova de Foz Côa, in the Upper Douro, the Côa Museum has seven exhibition rooms that transport visitors on a journey through time, from the Upper Paleolithic to the present day.

The Côa Museum is located alongside the Archaeological Park and serves as a gateway to discovering the region's rich rock art: the largest open-air sanctuary of Paleolithic art in the world.

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