Vilarinho da Furna

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Coordinates: 41°46′49″N 8°11′49″W / 41.78028°N 8.19694°W / 41.78028; -8.19694

Ruins in Vilarinho da Furna in a dry period, albeit on a rainy day.

Vilarinho da Furna (the villagers and those in the region called it Vilarinho da Furna, some historians and the dam builders used the plural form Vilarinho das Furnas^[1]) is a village that was submerged in 1972 by the filling of the reservoir with the same name. It is located on the River Homem up to Ribeira do Eido, in the municipality of Terras de Bouro in the Braga district, in the Minho region of northern Portugal. In a legal twist, the submerged land is still in the hands of the former villagers, but the use of the dam belongs to the Portuguese state. At times when the level of the reservoir falls, the village emerges; these occurrences often attract tourists.

The village is known for its community style of life, which may have its roots in the time of the Visigoths.^[2]^[3]

History up until c. 1800

Oral tradition has it that the village was founded c. 70,^[3] at the time that the nearby Roman road (Via Nova XVIII) was developed. According to the tradition, seven men settled down at the site of present-day Portela do Campo. After a dispute among them, four decided to settle downstream of Rio Homem, establishing what is now Vilarinho da Furna. There is no proof of this, though there are still Roman remains: two roads approaching from south of the village and three Roman bridges, one inside the village over Ribeira do Eido, one upstream (Ponte Nova), and one downstream (Ponte do Couço), as well as many others in the region.^[4]

Little is known about the village since Roman times. The first written reference is from a 1623 book on baptisms. (Livro Misto numéro 1 dos Baptismos, Casamentos e Óbitos, S. João do Campo).^[4]

A German travelling in Portugal in the final years of the 18th century visited Vilarinho da Furna. He noted that the houses were as simple as those of any other peasants in the region. However, his large host family lived comfortably; in contrast to many other places, they had no shortage of food, and their beds were clean and made up with white linen. He suggested that many German peasants would envy how well-off they were (Link, 1803 mentioned in Cleto, 2001).^[2]

Several versions of the village's name exist: Vilarinho da Furna, Vilarinho das Furnas, Vilarinho, Villarinho, Vilarinho de Furmas, VIllarinho da Furna and Villarinho das Furnas. The villagers and residents of nearby villages generally know it as Vilarinho da Furna. "Das Furnas" is probably a reference to the rock cavities found near the spring of Rio de Furnas.^[3]

The locale

Vilarinho da Furna was located on the southern slopes of Serra Amarela, giving the village both good solar exposure and protection from the northerly winds from the higher mountains. The local springs usually did not dry out during the summers. Fertile soils were generally found only in places were the streams could flood to leave sediments. This provided the conditions for a diverse agriculture typical of the area, with maize and small plots or gardens, interspersed with hanging vines to make vinho verde, the typical wine of the Minho region. The villagers kept hens, cows, pigs, sheep and goats. The trees in the small valleys provided shade for them in the hot months of late summer. Pasture land atop the hills (reaching up to 1300m) was usually quite sparse, with poor soils and often with only naked rocks. Only the small portion of land in the lower, less inclined areas was suitable to provide hay and forage for cows. The Ribeira da Furna fed the community spring and levada, which was controlled by a system of sluice gates to supply water to villagers and cattle, and to irrigate the fields below the village.^[5]

In order to avoid occupying arable land, the houses in the village were side-by-side, thus defining the streets, alleys and the common spaces, including the alpendoradas in which the Junta gathered. Because of the lack of space inside the village, the houses tended to extend out over the streets, creating overhangs.^[2]

The lands belonging to Vilarinho da Furna encompass 3000 hectares. In 1895, after a dispute with the Forest Agency (Serviços Florestais), these lands became the shared private property of the descendants of the villagers who signed a contract ending the dispute.^[3]

The exodus and the dam

Planning for the dam began in the 1950s with terrain surveys and test drilling. Construction started in 1967. At this time, the village had almost 300 inhabitants in 57 families spread over 80 houses.^[2]

The exodus started in September 1969, when the then Portuguese Electricity Company (Compania Portuguesa de Electricidade) started to pay out the indemnity fees. In October 1970, notices were posted throughout the village stating that the reservoir was about to be filled.^[4] The last inhabitant left in 1971, and the village was submerged the following year.^[3]

Before the dam was built, all roads leading to the village were constructed by the villagers. The dam construction company attempted to build a new road to evacuate the villagers, but this attempt failed. In the end, the villagers had to construct a new road to allow them to take their belongings by truck from the village.

The villagers received a total of 20,741,607 escudos. Excluding houses and other structures, the land itself was valued by HICA (Companhia Hidroeléctrica do Cavado) at half an escudo per square meter—at the time, the price of half a sardine.^[3] The indemnisation for everything, including structures, was 5 escudos per square meter. This amount might have been less than the cost HICA incurred to build houses for its workers.^[6] Residents tried to bring away as much of their belongings as possible, even the roof tiles; only the bare walls of most of the houses were left behind.^[3]

The reservoir covers 344 hectares, with a useful reservoir capacity of 69.7 hm³. The dam has an installed maximum power capacity of 125 MW.^[7]

The community

Had the village not been submerged by the reservoir, it might have been completely forgotten. The construction of the dam made scientists take notice of the village and its communitarian social system, which was uncommon in the 20th century, but which in remote times was found throughout Europe.^[3]

The village had a council, called the Junta, with a member for each family. This is believed to be a practice dating back to the Visigoths, with their conventus publicus vicinorum (public assembly of neighbours).^[3] The Junta's leader (Zelador, or Juíz) was chosen from among the married men, and sat for a term of six months together with its legislative chamber (Os Seis). At the beginning of each term all voters one by one went into a room with the new Zelador and gave him a note with name of six of the neighbours to elect the new "Os Seis". In a tradition that was abandoned already when Jorge Dias was around the old Zelador would give the new Zelador a whip upon which the new would swear an oath on the Santos Evangelhos.^[8] The council discussed and made decisions concerning many aspects of village life, discussing some matters in great detail. This discussion at the council made Vilarinho da Furna a participatory democracy based on its consuetudinary laws.

Matters discussed by the Junta included preparing new routes and repairing existing ones; organising the pastoral duties, including the herding of the cattle; irrigating the fields; cutting wood and clearing forests; trapping wolves; and harvesting grapes. In essence, the Junta was charged with making sure that nothing went undone in this largely self-sustaining community. In the last years of the village's existence, the Junta also devoted itself to devising strategies to fight its final enemy, the company that constructed the dam.

The Junta also judged and punished any crimes; thus the leader was referred to as the Judge (juiz).^[2]^[3] Absence from meetings of the Junta was punished: slight delays were fined; for absences, the offender owed the village one day of community work. The most severe punishment for any transgression within the community was to be excluded from it (botar fora do vizinho). The offender would not receive any help within the scope of the communitarian lifestyle, so no one else would herd his cattle; and he would be denied access to the communal land. In essence, this meant exile from the village.^[4]

The village's economy was based on cattle. In 1968, the herd consisted of over 1600 head, not counting calves born in that year. At the end of World War II, the count was almost 1000 head higher, as a result of the high price of domestically-produced meat. Little beef or butter was found on the village's tables, and milk was only taken after calving; the focus was on feeding cattle for sale. Cattle were generally pastured in the lower lands; goats were kept up on the hills. The cow pastures were divided by stone fences to avoid mixing the animals, in particular to separate the castrated cattle from the bulls to avoid upsetting the latter. The villagers took turns herding, so that everyone had to spend time away from the village. A herder was fined if it was determined that an animal had been killed or had disappeared through his fault or negligence. Villagers in the fields prepared supper for those who watched the herds. The mountains around the village, especially Serra da Amarela, have a number of small huts (casarotas) as temporary lodging for the herders.^[4] Every spring the villagers went out to mend the stone fence that defined the outer perimeter of the land (termo).^[5]

The museum and Natur Parque

In 1981, the municipality of Terras de Bouro built an Ethnographic Museum in São João do Campo commemorating Vilarinho da Furna. The collection includes clothes, agricultural tools, and paintings depicting daily life in the village. The museum was built with stones from two houses of the old village. It was opened by Prime Minister Cavaco Silva on 14 May 1989.^[3]

In 2008, Terras de Bouro launched the project "Valorização do Espaço Natural da Serra da Amarela" (Valorisation of the natural space of Serra da Amarela). This project, based around the Natur Parque (Nature Park) of Vilarinho da Furna, includes an underwater museum, a boat with a transparent bottom and a quay for it, a wildlife observation post, two mountain shelters, water and solar energy installations to provide energy for the installations of the park, beehives, a camping site, a bike path, and reconstruction of the old bridge at Couço and of the water mills in the area. The project was approved in July 2008 with total funding of 1.2 million euros over 2 years, although the it is estimated that another 2-3M€ will be needed to cover the expenses of the buildings and access roads.

The municipalities of Terras de Bouro and Ponte da Barca are also jointly developing a hiking route along Serra da Amarela. The trail as planned will pass through Chã da Fonte, Casa da Neve, Branca de Bilhares, Entre-ambos-os-Rios, Germil, Brufe, Casarotas, Fojo do Lobos and back to Vilarinho da Furna.^[9]

AFURNA

In October 1985, the former villagers created the association AFURNA (Associação dos Antigos Habitantes de Vilarinho da Furna). The association's purpose was to defend and promote the cultural collective and communitarian heritage of the people of the old village. Some of its goals have been realized, at least in part: reforestation of the old lands, creation of a fauna reserve, developing an underwater museum, and tourist activities that defend the heritage.

References

↑ Manuel de Azevedo Antunes, Vilarinho da Furna, Memórias do Passado e do Futuro, Lisboa, 2ª Edição, CEPAD, ULHT, 2005
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Joel Cleto and Suzana Faro, Nos 30 anos do Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês. A Memória de Vilarinho das Furnas. O Comércio do Porto. Revista Domingo, Porto, 29 April 2001, p. 20-22.
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 Manuel de Azevedo Antunes, A Barragem de Vilarinho da Furna, Arraianos IV October 2005
↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Manuel de Azevedo Antunes, Vilarinho da Furna, uma aldeia afundada, 1985, Regra do Jogo (Lisboa)
↑ 5.0 5.1 Delmira Calado, Vilarinho da Furna: A Memória. Fotos: José Pastor, Depósito Legal: : 140609/99, Ed: Escola Superior Gallaecia, 1999
↑ RTP broadcast, Memorial Sites III Vilarinho das Furnas, 29 minutes, Image: João Luis Azevedo, Sound António Garcia, Video edit: Paulo Alexandre, Image search: Luisa Vaz & Sofia Leite, Audio post-production: António Garcia, Production: Ana Lucas, Programming: Sofia Leite, RTP 2005
↑ EDP Annual Sustainability Report 2003
↑ Jorge Dias. Vilarinho da Furna: Uma Aldeia Comunitária. Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda. Vila da Maia, 1983 (In Portuguese) Facsimile of the book released in 1948
↑ António Silva, Valorização de Vilarinho concluída dentro de um ano, Diário de Minho, 2008-12-21

External links

Etnographic Museum of Vilarinho das Furnas (In Portuguese)
Vilarinho da Furna (In Portuguese)
AFURNA, Old site (In Portuguese)
A list of texts referring to Vilarino da Furna by Prof. Antunes (In Portuguese)
Blog Vento Norte items tagged Vilarinho da Furna
Aerial view of Vilarinho da Furna at low water