The JPP parliamentary group questioned the Madeira Port Administration (APRAM) today about the whereabouts of a 19th century crane that existed in Forte do Molhe, Funchal.
The question was formulated in a letter signed by the parliamentary leader of the JPP, Élvio Sousa, in which a recent intervention in Forte do Ilhéu is questioned.
The Madeira Ports Administration “considered perfectly normal the artificial bathing of a ‘white cream’, reminiscent of a “bride cake” on the historic stonework of a monument”, but, for the parliamentarian, “it is obvious that anyone, even less skilled in technical appreciation, it considers those works with a notorious mischaracterization of a classified monument, an ex-libris at the entrance of a city in the Portuguese Expansion”.
For the JJP, “the intervention was not limited to placing a semi-dark mortar in the joints of the stone structure of the Fort, but also to an almost total leveling of the masonry, and the planting of artificial layers on the walls at the base of the building”.
“We believe that even accredited technicians in this matter of restoration of the architectural heritage are highly disillusioned with the “docking” of the property, a work of dubious quality and amateur, which contrasts, for example, with the recent recovery of the walls of the Cais da Ponta do Sol”, is also read in the note published on the official website of this political force on the internet.
Élvio Sousa also gave as an example what he considers to be an “excellent recovery of the stone apparatus of the classified Machico Aqueduct”, recalling that it was “a work supervised by the experienced architect Victor Mestre”.
With the foregoing, the JPP requested a technical discussion about the intervention at the Molhe do Ilhéu in “headquarters of the government oversight body”, having requested the presence of the president of APRAM, Paula Cabeço, and the Regional Secretary for Tourism and Culture, Eduardo Jesus .