Visit Boticas

The Nadir Afonso arts center is a building with contemporary architecture designed by award-winning New York architect Louise Braverman and architect Artur Afonso, son of Nadir Afonso. The center is a tribute to the painter, trained in architecture, from Trás-os-Montes with maternal roots in Boticas.

The building in itself makes for an interesting visit due to its modern lines and original architectural solutions, such as the visitable garden roof. In the building we can find dozens of works by the Trás-os-Montes master, a pioneer of abstraction in Portugal, on display. We can also find in this building the town's tourist office and an interesting auditorium used for various types of occasional events.

The Boticas Rural Museum is one of the constituent centers of a joint project, the Ecomuseu do Barroso, which has several locations in the municipality of Boticas and its neighbor Montalegre.

It is an essential place to understand the history and essence of Boticas and its people. In it we can see iconographic material from the Village such as instruments used in farming, costumes, environments from the past, among others. The landscapes, traditions and culture of the region are present here and which we can still witness today throughout the entire municipality.

The Boticas parish church dates back to 1880 and is dedicated to Our Lady of

Deliverance. It is an apparently very simple and austere construction that echoes the typically Portuguese Chão Style that appeared in the 16th century.

The interior is the most interesting part of this building, especially the main chapel with its profuse decoration of artistic merit. In addition to the good work on the altarpiece, we can see the good quality frescoes representing the

miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and Jesus giving the communion of bread and wine to the apostles, the nave of the church is decorated with paintings representing winged angels.

Since 2011, the Boticas Municipality square has had a solid granite replica of the Galaico Warrior sculpture, believed to be the oldest anthropomorphic figure on the Iberian peninsula.

This sculpture was created under the project of the European Center for Documentation and Interpretation of Castro Sculpture (CEDIEC).

The sculpture represents a warrior in a static pose canonical from the Castro culture of the 2nd Iron Age.

It is believed that this type of figure represented a connection between the warrior and the deities of the time.

An imposing building with a typical layout of plain architecture where we can notice the detail of the granite moldings of the building's openings that hold the typical wooden guillotine frames.

The library opened in 2000 in the building of the old town hall, which was rehabilitated to contain the facilities of a library. The result is a well-equipped building with all current amenities and functionalities where you can find countless books of interest for all tastes.

Right in the center of the town, this park is worthy of a visit for all those who value history and heritage in addition to nature and landscape. A park that, in addition to the verdant and well-structured environment, has several architectural and sculptural points of interest. As the name itself tells us, this park has a

stream that meanders within its limits, has sports equipment for those who feel up to it and also a bridge with a perfect round arch, several other pedestrian bridges, a granite mill, a typical canastro and a sculpture that portrays the enormous writer from the region, Miguel Torga.

CEDIEC is a key place to visit in Boticas, it has an extensive archaeological heritage focused on the region's vast Castro culture. The center is developed in a contemporary architectural complex that is modeled on the most current paradigms of archaeological and museological science. CEDIEC's objective is to enhance Outeiro Lesenho, a place of great value in the panorama of fortified villages of Castro culture in the northwest of the Iberian peninsula. The center is divided into several spaces, namely customer service, administration, permanent exhibition and documentation room, materials reserve and area

laboratory. A place of great interest for those who value history and want to learn more about the beginnings of a region rich in heritage from Castro times.

The Granja convent or school is made up of a beautiful, albeit modest, chapel and adjacent buildings, namely the dormitories and other rooms typical of a convent. It also has an interesting and picturesque courtyard. The baroque façade of the chapel and the other elements of this architectural movement spread throughout the complex stand out. The convent has been undergoing a series of

restoration as it had been abandoned and in ruins for many years. It operated as a school for girls and was run by the Doroteias Sisters, a religious congregation in Beça.

A museum space that contains all the information about Boticas' signature wine, the wine of the dead.

The history of this wine is quite interesting and ridiculous. It takes place during the 2nd invasion of Napoleonic troops in Portugal in 1808. The story boils down to the intention of hiding the valuable food, wine, from the French troops. The people of Boticas chose to bury the wine on the floor of their own cellars. When the French were expelled from the country, people were astonished to see that the wine had improved after the season it had spent underground. The wine of the dead was created, so called because it had been buried. The technique has been used since then and has become a curiosity in the wine world.

For those who appreciate contemporary architecture, they have the opportunity to visit a building designed by one of the most renowned Portuguese architects today, António Belém Lima. A building with a characteristic feature of this architect, characterized by a simple design, but detailed with complex geometries that give personality and enhance the value of his buildings. The building is connected to the current library, the old steps of the municipality by an unusual glass bridge. In front of both aforementioned buildings there is a stripped-down access square prepared to host outdoor events. In the building's atrium we can see a monumental tile panel by master Nadir Afonso that enhances the architecture and delights the eyes of contemporary art lovers.