Vale Formoso: um manifesto pelos cineteatros portugueses

Abstract

The present dissertation has as its object of study the "Cine-teatro Vale Formoso", in Porto, a building currently unoccupied/unused and which belongs to the "Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus". The motif for this research comes from a personal restlessness due to the building's abandonment condition. Having said that, the investigation explores the history, the degradation and the relevance of this 'cine-theatre' in the local neighbourhood's cultural and social context as well as in the city Porto as a whole. This work arises as an urgent appeal for the preservation of this architectural type, placing Vale Formoso's case study within the broadened context of Portuguese cine-theatres. In order to deepen the analysis, an inventory of the concert halls/venues in Northern Portugal was carried out, identifying their typology, construction period and current conservation state. This survey revealed an unsettling reality: Vale Formoso's situation is not an exception, since many of the cultural venues, which were formerly valuable heritage, face abandonment, demolition or adaptations that distort their original social and cultural role. The methodology developed itself through the elaboration of inquiries aimed at different social players: i) social inquiries addressed to the residents of Cine-teatro Vale Formoso's area of influence (radiuses of 500m and 1000m); and ii) interviews with experts and municipal entities (technicians). The objectives of the inquiries and interviews are: i) to assess the impact of Vale Formoso's abandonment on the collective memory of the community within the cine-theatre's area of influence; ii) to understand the specialists' standpoint about the necessity to intervene, from the cities' perspective, in this typology of cine-theatres and other concert halls, taking into consideration their cultural role; besides that, to understand the need to protect this typology. The work presents an argument/discussion and final remarks in the form of a manifesto, which seeks to be both sensitive and critical as a means to incite the population and the authorities to recognise the value of this monument while the situation is still reversable, unlike many cases in the country. Lastly, one can conclude that Cine-teatro Vale Formoso's degradation goes beyond the mere physical and material loss of the building itself; the reflection comes to show the marginalisation of cultural heritage, with tangible and intangible values, essential to the local and national identity and belonging to the collective history.