The goal is to create museum centres in both cities: in Portimão, at the Santa Catarina Fortress, and in Lagoa, at Mexilhoeira da Carregação, explained Isabel Soares, from the Portimão City Council.

The official was speaking during the public presentation of the MUSA project – Musealization of archaeological finds from the bottom of the Arade River - budgeted at 3.4 million euros, whose protocol was signed today by several entities.

In addition to physical and virtual museum spaces, the project also foresees the creation of a visitable underwater archaeological reserve in that river, where vestiges have been found ranging from the Roman occupation of that territory to the 19th century, related to port activity.

According to the head of the Museums, Heritage and Historical Archive division of the Portimão Museum, the Arade River is a kind of "very important heritage archive" for the region and the country, and the project focuses on a "quite innovative" approach.

Isabel Soares also noted that, in addition to what will be removed from the river through excavations, there are 1,800 artefacts under the custody of the National Centre for Nautical and Underwater Archaeology (CNANS) that will also be part of the project.

The official recalled that the intensity and volume of dredging carried out in the river between the 1960s and 1990s caused a "huge impact" on the preserved archaeological heritage, but, on the other hand, were also a warning for future situations.

The MUSA project is promoted by the municipalities of Portimão and Lagoa, in partnership with the public institute Cultural Heritage and the Coordination and Regional Development Commission (CCDR) of the Algarve, and is financed by the ALGARVE Regional Program 2030.

The MUSA project will promote research and ensure the preservation and musealization of submerged findings identified in the Arade River bed, in an area between Portimão and Lagoa in the Faro district, which is home to one of Portugal's main underwater archaeological sites.

Among the planned projects are archaeological and laboratory campaigns, restoration and conservation actions, an exhibition on the banks of the Arade River, the reformulation of the existing Underwater Archaeology Centre in Portimão and the museum centre in Lagoa, and scientific actions for dissemination and knowledge sharing.

The signing ceremony of the MUSA project protocol was presided over by the Minister of Culture, Margarida Balseiro Lopes.