The Viana do Castelo City Council unanimously approved today to open a period of public discussion, for 30 days, for the classification of 44 commercial establishments as “Loja Memória”, for historical, cultural or social interest.
Among the 44 commercial establishments on the final list approved today at a council meeting, there is the Manuel Natário pastry shop, known for the berlin balls celebrated in one of the works of the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado, or Ourivesaria Freitas, which, in September 2007, it was the scene of the most violent armed robbery ever recorded in the county.
In January 2019, the municipality unanimously approved the municipal regulation that defined the criteria for assigning the classification “Loja Memória” to commercial houses with historical, cultural or social interest.
In addition to preserving that heritage, the “Loja Memória” project also foresees the creation of “visitation circuits” and the attribution of “tax benefits or other type of municipal support so that, in situations of difficulty, the establishments do not close or can be transmissible to other generations or entities ”.
That project, publicly presented in June 2016, “intends to promote the classification of commercial establishments, assigning a distinctive identification and defining a set of incentives and support that guarantee the dynamism and economic sustainability of these activities and the protection and promotion of establishments”.
The project, which has the support of the Business Association of Viana do Castelo (AEVC) and the Portuguese Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism (APHORT), is intended “for commercial establishments and cafeteria, restaurant and similar units that stand out for its uniqueness, heritage or sentimental value and for its contribution to the identity of the city and the quality of the urban landscape of Viana do Castelo ”.
The classification “will be guided by distinctive factors – stores that sell products of excellence, that have maintained the same activity for 50 or more years, that constitute spaces of artistic or architectural reference, that acquire special relevance in the history of the city, as an event place historical, for being the only resistant in a certain type of activity or for being a reference in the common language of the residents – and considers several parameters and evaluation criteria, associated namely with the establishment / activity and the heritage ”.
Within the scope of the project, a working group was formed that “identified all establishments within the scope of the project, collected data and documents relevant to the characterization of commerce, cafeterias and restaurants in the city in general and selected establishments in particular” , also having the competence “to define classification levels and types of protection, considering the legal framework, the budget availability of the program and the evaluation criteria, among others”.
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