The foreboding prison fortress in Peniche, closed down at dawn on April 27th 1974, is a step closer to being turned into a museum so that, "new generations should not forget."
A €3.4 million spend was agreed in April and the winner of the architectural competition now has been announced.
Architect João Barros Matos, the head of AR4 studio, will design the National Museum of Resistance and Freedom, a fitting tribute to the political prisoners and torture victims of the Salazar (pictured) dictatorship.
In second place was FSSMGN Arquitetos’ Margarida Grácio Nunes and in third place, architect Marcelo de Gouveia Cardia.
The public competition was commissioned by the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and the winner was chosen by the architect Alexandre Alves Costa (president), architect João António Serra Herdade, architect João Mendes Ribeiro, architect Sofia Aleixo and the designer Henrique Cayatte.
The results of the contest were announced on Tuesday and the winning projects will be on display at the Museum of Popular Art in Lisbon from June 20th.
The future National Museum of Resistance and Freedom already has its own website in which the DGPC calls for of life stories and testimonies from surviving prisoners, a vital part of the collective historical memory that will be preserved in the new museum space. A series of suggestions from former prisoners is expected to be incorporated into the museum design.
Peniche fortress soon may be held up as, 'the greatest symbol of the fascist prison system,' according to one veteran, noting that hundreds of political prisoners were held there as 'enemies of the State.'
The Minister of Culture, Luís Castro Mendes, promised to have the new museum open to the public by April, 2019.
History
The fort served as a prison for the Estado Novo (between 1934 and 1974), where the opponents of the Salazar regime were sent, mostly being members of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).
On January 3rd, 1960, there was an escape from Peniche by Álvaro Cunhal (general secretary of the PCP), Joaquim Gomes, Carlos Costa, Jaime Serra, Francisco Miguel, José Carlos, Guilherme Carvalho, Pedro Soares, Rogério de Carvalho and Francisco Martins Rodrigues. Cunhal and the other prisoners drugged a jailer and abseiled down the walls to waiting getaway cars.
This 'Great Escape' was one of the most spectacular jail breaks during the Salazar years, mostly because Peniche was considered one of the most secure prisons in the country. The Peniche escape was unmatched until December 1961, when another seven PCP prisoners drove straight out of the jail at Caixas, near Lisbon, in an armour-plated car.
Any lingering awkwardness towards the State’s torture and jailing of political opponents during the Estado Novo may soon come to an end with exhibits, commentary and documentation available for all to see.
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For an analysis of the experience of political prisoners in Peniche, in the final stages of the Estado Novo dictatorship, click HERE
The National Museum of Resistance and Freedom website is HERE
