A Capela Town Council: patrimony

A Capela has an important archaeological heritage from prehistoric and protohistoric period. It is important to stand out the concentration of menhirs at “O Alto da Serra” and at “Serra do Forgoselo” from the Neolithic period (about 30 are catalogued); the Castrexo do Cruceiro village, at the parish of Caaveiro, and the stony “insculturas” of “Mosqueiros hill” at Gunxel and “Corregosos” en Vilardemouros.

To save that culture wrought in the course of time, but in danger of being lost with the memory of the elderly, it is created the CEIP “ Mosteiro de Caaveiro, in 1980. We are talking about a socio-pedagogic experience that consists on “doing a permanent exhibition with the objects picked up by the youth in their houses, own of the traditional popular culture, and that little by little were being forgotten”. That experience grown, and, with the pass of the years, finished being an Ethnographic Collection of big interest and value because it shows us an imagen quite approximated of how our people lived in a recent pass. This way of life starts to disappear in the 60´s, when the industry and market broke in changing drastically the ways of working (machines) and disappearing slowly lot of crafts activities, which till that moment, were the maintenance of lot of families.
The objectives set up at the beginnings, were reached, this was manifested with the recognition of the educational community and neighbours, and little by little, it was extended out of A Capela and their area. Nowadays, this Ethnographic Collection is part of the Galician Census of Museums, but due to another causes as the lack of financing, lack of room, and inadequate installations, lack of personal for maintenance activities, etc, the need of looking for other perspectives for the continuity of the collection arises. In this search, in 2001, the Town Council of A Capela, and the CEIP “Mosteiro de Caaveiro” resolve the creation of an association named “ Board of Trustees of the Ethnographic Museum of A Capela” with the idea of valise the cultural heritage of a Capela. To this new project, join as members all the neighbours, cultural associations, etc, of the Town Council, besides other particular members.

The Board of Trustees objectives are orientated to create an Ethnographic Museum that collect the ethnographic heritage of Galicia and particularly the ethnographic heritage of our area. Investigation, studies, diffusion, conservation, defence and promotion of the galician culture.

Now, the pieces of the Ethnographic collection are shown in the passages of the “Mosteiro de Caaveiro” School.