A PRACTICAL CASE OF CONSERVATION AND REUSE OF INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE: THE LOUSAL MINE (GRÂNDOLA, PORTUGAL)

Maria Luísa F.N. Santos and Alfredo A.D.Tinoco

Portuguese Association for Industrial Archaeology - APAI

(Paper presented in II Latin American Conference on Rescue, Preservation and Reuse of the Industrial Heritage, 1998 - supported by Instituto Camões and Instituto de Cooperação Científica e Tecnológica Internacional)

     The Lousal Mines are in southern Portugal, in the Alentejo region. To be precise they are near Azinheira de Barros, a small village not far from Grândola. The Mines are part of the Iberian Pyrite Belt which is some 250 km long and in parts 40 Km wide. It begins in the Sado Valley and extends as far as the Guadalquivir Valley near Seville, Spain. The Mines were worked from 1900 to 1988 when they were closed.

     In August 1882 a local farmer, António Manuel, filed a claim with the Ministry of Public Works and Mines, and the next year the Lousal deposit was duly registered in his name. Since then the mine has had a number of owners. The farmer himself was awarded a provisional mining concession in 1885, which was later transferred to a mines engineer, Alfredo Masson. He held the concession until 1899 when the mine was officially declared abandoned. A new concession was granted a year later, in 1900, to Guilherme Ferrreira Pinto Basto. Further concessions were granted in 1904 for the Lousal Novo mine and in 1922 for the nº2 and nº3 mines as well as for the Sítio do Montado and Cerro dos Arneirões mines. Meanwhile, in 1910, Guilherme Ferreira Pinto Basto transferred the working rights to a Company called Minas dos Bairros Lda. But five years later they passed it on to another company, Henrique Burnay & Companhia, which in turn transferred the concession to Société Anonyme Belge des Mines d’Aljustrel in 1934. For two years this company operated the Lousal and Aljustrel mines until in 1936 the Lousal operations were taken over by another Belgian company, Mines et Industries S.A..

     It was not until the 1920’s that the mines began to be worked intensively. This was largely a result of the increasing economic importance of cupriferous pyrites given the demand for sulphuric acid. The mine owners also owned a fertiliser company called SAPEC, which opened a superphosphate factory in Setúbal in 1928. Not surprisingly SAPEC made use of the Lousal pyrites, as did another chemical company, CUF, although the latter acquired most of its pyrites from the Aljustrel Mines.

     In the late fifties and early sixties the possibility of mechanising the Lousal Mines was examined. The Montevecchio Mines in Sardinia were contacted and it was the head of their mechanisation department who invented the prototypes of the key elements used in the Lousal Mines, namely the self-propelled pneumatic shovels and dumpers.

     By 1962 the mechanisation process was practically complete and the Lousal Mines were connected to the national road network. The mineworkers who, due to the mechanisation process, had been declared “surplus to requirements” carried out this work. This period also saw the building of a number of social infrastructures namely, housing for the mining staff, a health centre, a pharmacy, a first aid post, commercial establishments and a social club.

     If we look at the population statistics we find there was a substantial growth in the Lousal population between 1911 and 1960. There were only 167 inhabitants in 1911. Yet in 1940 there were 1273 and by 1960 the population had risen to 1906. After that there was a steady fall in the number of residents. Initially this was clearly related to the mechanisation process. In 1970 Lousal had 1252 inhabitants and in 1981 it had 957. Later the decline was due to the pit closures. By 1991 the population had dropped to 679.

     So after almost a century of mining Lousal is now an area with a damaged environment and landscape. It is socially and economically unprivileged. It is marred by mining debris and bears the inevitable scars of an enterprise that for a long time was the sole supporter of a local community but has since gone.

     Fortunately in this case less than ten years after the mines were closed their former owner and the local council have got together to devise an integrated development program with a cultural component and should regenerate Lousal economically and socially.

     The former mine owner and the local council are brought together in the Frédéric Velge Foundation that is promoting and managing the Lousal Integrated Development and Revitalisation Program (RELOUSAL). The project is partially funded by European funds.

     In 1996, the Portuguese Association for Industrial Archaeology (APAI) was invited to take part in the cultural aspects of the Program. This is why we developed the project to transform the mines into a museum and signed a protocol with the Foundation in order to make it a reality.

     As we said we are dealing with integrated development. The RELOUSAL Program includes the building of tourist facilities (small hotels, restaurants, leisure facilities, a campsite and opportunities for rural tourism) as well as vocational training. It also involves the setting up of mini-businesses and cultural facilities, which will play their part in ensuring the project’s success. For this reason the design and implementation of the museum project requires constant contact with the Foundation and the local population so as to guarantee quality and to safeguard everybody’s interests. For the same reason the project has to be done in stages over a number of years even though it would be more exciting to open the entire Mining Museum to the public in one go.

     It must be said that once the viability of the project has been assured it will be a unique opportunity and a pioneering step in our country to transform a mine into a museum. In fact over recent decades a number of mines have closed in Portugal and until now it has really not been possible to show the public what mining is all about. There are two exceptions: a small exhibition at an iron mine and another one at the site of a coal mine. There are also some collections belonging to mining societies.

     The Lousal Mine has the potential to truly revitalise the area from three standpoints. Firstly the cultural standpoint thanks to the conservation and rehabilitation of the mining heritage (in terms of archaeology and mining history, geological history and industrial archaeology). Secondly the scientific standpoint thanks to the opportunity to study this heritage particularly through a Documentation Centre that will be built next to the Museum and the publications emanating from it. And finally in terms of Education since for the first time the public, especially students and interested parties, will be able to come into contact with the world of mines, mining and miners.

     So the project is in fact a social and cultural infrastructure that the region and the country need. While it is true to say that it is a local project it is no less true to say that it reaches far beyond Lousal and is of relevance to the whole country.

     Transforming a mine into a museum has a dual importance. For the local population it provides social and economic opportunities while finding a new use for a heritage that has always been part of their daily lives and with which they have strong emotional ties. For visitors interested in the world of mining it is important because of the knowledge it provides and the attraction of this unknown dark mysterious world that exists below the ground.

     Finally we must emphasise that the project is meant to contribute to the social and cultural development of both residents and visitors. It will also contribute to the creation and redistribution of economic wealth locally as well as to a steady improvement in personal and social well-being and in the quality of life. In other words it will contribute to integrated development, not just to economic growth.

     The nature of the Lousal Mining Museum and the implementation stages take into account the varied nature and interests of the different sectors of the public that will use it. In fact we have considered three types of public. Firstly there are the local residents – ex-miners, their families and others in some way related to the mines. Then there are the schools and other organised groups with specific interests. And thirdly there is the general public.

     Clearly we have to predict the expectations of each sector of the public and devise differentiated activities that combine realism with imagination.

     We realise that in such cases the work of museologists must be done together with the ex-miners because of their hands-on experience, their love for the mine and mining and also because of their readiness to share their knowledge and know-how.

     We therefore hope that ex-miners will fill a large number of vacancies. However it will be necessary to set up an Education Service with its own premises that will be able to receive, in a scientifically and educationally sound manner, school parties and specific interest groups.

     The Museum’s other structures and facilities will meet the needs of a museological institution as defined by the ICOM. So now it is time to describe the museum project that is part of the Lousal Integrated Development and Revitalisation Program.

     The Mining Museum will be multicentred and each centre will have a specific thematic. It will make use of the support areas and old mine premises. Many of them require repair and some require substantial alterations.

     Visitors will arrive at the Reception which will include an Interpretation Centre describing the Museum’s various components and explaining the background to the mines in terms of the Iberian Pyrite Belt and the Grândola district. Side by side, there will be an Auditorium and the shop of the museum. In the same building, the bathhouse used by the miners will be adapted as a cloakroom and a dressing room for people visiting the museum and for the underground experience.

     The Mineral and Geological Centre will have a rock and mineral display and will look at the geological history and to the geology of Lousal.

     A permanent exhibition in the Main Centre will look at two aspects:

• mining history;
• Lousal archaeology and history.

     The Whim Engine will be a particular striking centre because of both its physical presence and its symbolic value. Repair work is already underway.

     The Electric Power Station, which provided the mines and the local population electricity, was in partial use until quite recently so it is in a reasonable state of repair. At the same time it houses electricity generating equipment from several eras and therefore has tremendous scientific and educational value. For financial reasons this equipment will be restored in the first stage of the project.

     The Explosives Store will form another focal point of the museum. Before a shaft or part of an underground gallery will be transformed into part of the museum the explosives store could be used for simulate them. This will require the use of imitation timbering.

     The Shaft and Underground Gallery will give the visitors the underground experience, trying to show how the work was done inside the mine.

     In addition the Museum will include a Temporary Exhibitions Gallery. This gallery will be used for major exhibitions, as each centre will have a smaller temporary exhibition gallery for the exhibitions concerning its own thematic.

     Next to the Museum a small Documentation and Study Centre is planned. This will house the existing documents relating to mining in Lousal, to mining generally and to local history.

     And finally a play park for children will be built based on the mining theme.

     The program of the Museum has already been presented by APAI to the Frédéric de Velge Foundation, as well as the architectural projects for the Power Station, Interpretation Centre and Auditorium, the exhibition equipment design project and the exhibition design for the Power Station (1^st stage).

     As the electric power station, together with the whim engine, is the only building where the equipment was maintained, we decided that the design of the exhibition to be held there should avoid an overload of information, letting the equipment speak by itself. In the two areas where the equipment is the main motive of the exhibition, there will be only plans and diagrams explaining the inside of the engines and other information related to the power station. In an area that is almost free of equipment we will have the temporary exhibition gallery of this centre. The first exhibition we are designing is about “Energy and Mines”, and it will be a sort of introduction to the thematic. In the future, new temporary exhibitions will examine in a deeper way the several aspects focused in this one.

     The architectural project tries to maintain the general aspect of the building (which had the same tracing of the previous steam power station nowadays being transformed into a restaurant), although some parts added for supporting some activities and without any significance have been removed. The reception of this centre will occupy the area where the locksmith workshop worked after some changes had occurred in the power station.

     In the power station building we will also have the store (the museum reserve), an open space that was before a blacksmith’s shop (nothing has remained from the previous function.

     Near the power station an arts and crafts centre is being built, transforming the old offices of the mine in small shops where artisans can work and sell the produced crafts.

LOUSAL MINING MUSEUM - PROJECT STAGES

EXHIBITION

Stages

I

1. Power Station – Exhibition about the power station and about energy and mines
2. Reception
3. Interpretation Centre – The Mines and the Grândola district
4. Auditorium
5. Whim Machine
6. (Play Park)

II

1. Transformation of explosives store into a simulated gallery
2. Geological history
3. (Play Park)

III

1. Transformation of a section of the mine
2. Main Centre
• History of Mining
• History of Lousal Mine
• techniques/technology
• social history
• workers
• employers
3. (Play Park)

LOUSAL MINING MUSEUM

EXHIBITION CENTRES

1. Interpretation Centre
   • the Lousal Mines (context)
   • local
   • the Grândola district
   • the Iberian Pyrite Belt
   • Mineral use
2. Mineral and Geological Centre
   • geological history
   • history of the Earth
   • rock and mineral display
3. Main Centre
   • A. Mining history
     • Archaeology and mining history
     • Origins and evolution
     • Techniques and technology
     • Mine working systems
     • Mineral use in everyday life
   • B. The Lousal Mines
     • Discovery
     • Original and subsequent working
     • Techniques and technology used
     • Social history
     • Workers
     • Trade unions
     • Associations
     • Disputes and strikes
     • Housing
     • Education
     • Leisure and culture
     • Illness
     • Daily life in a mine
     • Employers
     • Organisation
     • Services
     • Premises
     • Staff
     • Offices
     • Other premises outside Lousal
4. Whim Engine
5. Power Station
6. Explosives store
7. Shaft and underground gallery
8. Temporary exhibitions gallery
9. Library/documentation centre
10. Play park

THE LOUSAL MINES – CHRONOLOGY

1882

Registration of Lousal deposit by a local farmer. António Manuel, who held the mining concession for two years.

1885

1899

The mine is declared abandoned.

1900

New concession granted to Guilherme Ferreira Pinto Basto.

1904

1910

1915

1922

1934

1935

1962

1988

1996

1997