Centre for the Welcoming and Interpretation of Megalithic Monuments of Alcalar

 

 

 

A few kilometres from Portimão is the village of Alcalar, where around 5,000 years ago an important prehistoric community settled and lived.

 

Here they settled a village defended by walls, trenches and slopes, where they built dwellings, next to which they constructed an important set of megalithic tombs.

 

The traces found allow us to get closer to their way of life, their activities, the way they occupied and used this place. Their relationship with death is evident in the construction of the different types of tombs, from mass graves to those specially designed for chiefs and their families.

 

Discovered and explored since the end of the 19th century, the megalithic monuments of Alcalar are classified as National Monument.

 

Two of these funerary monuments are open, in Alcalar, to the public and allow direct contact with the processes and materials used in their construction.

 

As a complement to the discovery of the megalithic monuments of Alcalar, we suggest a visit to Portimão Museum, to take a closer look at some of the original pieces found in the different monuments and in the village, in order to better understand the cultural legacy of this millenary community.

 

To discover and learn more about the life of these communities in the prehistory, the Portimão Museum has prepared a range of activities for you:
• Guided tours
• One day in Prehistory
• Sounds of nature
• Prehistoric hunters
• Monuments builders
• Pottery / “Soenga”
• Weaving
• Stone Cutting
• Grinding