About ALDEIA DA LUZ

Located in the Alentejo region, more specifically in the district of Évora, Aldeia da Luz belongs to the Municipality of Mourão and is bathed by the Alqueva dam.

The Alqueva dam led to the expected submergence of the village of Aldeia da Luz. The necessary relocation of the community led to the construction of a new village with the same functional structure as the original one, in a logic of “house by house, land by land”, maintaining the neighborhood relations and the general urban configuration, but adopting an architecture that cleansed traditional lines and assumed a contemporary approach.

The new settlement was built in 2002 on a site very close to the old Luz. It implied the construction of 212 houses, streets, squares and roads, commercial establishments, and collective equipment (schools, health center, sports equipment, bull ring, public garden, and cemetery). The sanctuary of Our Lady of Light was rebuilt, in the image of the original four- century foundation, and the cemetery was moved. The museum was built as a place of memory and creation.

The farmlands, now irrigated by the dam, were also distributed to the population, and today vineyards and olive groves impose themselves in the new landscape.