The Municipality of Silves formally received the documentary and archival collection of the Cork Museum, through a donation contract signed with the company that owned the property. The deed was signed by Dutch entrepreneur Erick de Vlieger and by the mayor of Silves, Luísa Conduto, at a ceremony held on the day of the municipal holiday, which celebrates the conquest of Silves by King Sancho I in 1189.
The Cork Museum, housed in the old English Factory, had reopened to the public on July 11, after being closed for 16 years, following the acquisition of the complex by entrepreneur Erick de Vlieger, who has been residing in the Algarve for about two decades. During the ceremony at the Town Hall, the entrepreneur expressed satisfaction at being able to deliver to the municipality documents that he considered important for the history of the municipality and the families linked to the old factory.
The collection, consisting of thousands of documents and photographs, represents, according to the mayor, "a return to the population and to Silves of a part of their identity," telling the story of the society, the people who worked there, and the commercial and social relations that marked the city through the cork industry for about a hundred years.
Luísa Conduto stated that the archive will now be subject to study and scientific treatment, something it has not had until now. The documentation was transferred free of charge to the municipality by the company Antrix, owned by the Dutch entrepreneur, with no heritage value assigned to it.
