Development of a Tourist Route around the Mining Heritage of the Estremoz Anticline

Abstract

The areas of the counties of Estremoz, Borba and Vila Viçosa, traditionally and since ancient times, have been a major region for extraction of marbles for use as a dimension stone in Portugal. The geological evolution of the Iberian Peninsula allowed the formation, in Alto Alentejo, of one of the World’s most important and famous marble deposits. The Estremoz Anticline, about 42 km long and 8 km in maximum width, is an impressive place where the strength and ingenuity of Man has been used for decades to turn the “land upside down”. The 27 km2 where the marble is concentrated is a place with a high density of quarries that have an unavoidable environmental impact, leaving stone exposed or accumulated in large tips, side-by-side with the Alentejo plains of wheat fields and olive trees. It is impossible to fully rehabilitate this area either for economic or strategic reasons, but it can be considered as resource for the promotion and development of industrial and scientific tourism and artistic and cultural events. A survey of the assets of the region has been undertaken and a wide variety of organizations and the industry are collaborating in planning a route and activities for the region.