Ages of the Earth Interpretive Center

The Center encourages you to start your adventure by looking at rocks that are around 1 billion years old, collected along the entire National Road 2, up to specimens formed approximately 40 million years ago! The journey continues with the viewing of a collection of fossils, which take us back to a new reality. With the oldest being around 475 million years old, they show the life on our planet of living beings that are now extinct, but which are nonetheless fundamental to understanding the history of the Earth. We quickly move forward in time to the Stone Age period, where we find some chipped and polished stone axes, forerunners, arrowheads, etc., culminating in Roman times, with exposed elements that attest to the importance of Cumieira at that time! On a different timescale, we arrive at 1786, the year the building where the Interpretive Center is located was built, with utilitarian pieces of no great historical relevance, but which were somehow linked to the building and to those who lived here. At the end of the "journey" we see ceramic pieces from all over the country, with a strong focus on the National Road 2, most prominently on the Verín - Penacova geological fault. Over time, this fault has produced mainly black ware - ware fired in a reducing atmosphere. This collection includes some elements that are linked to the latest productions of the Oleiros Centers where they were produced! A replica of the Foral de Lordelo (an essential document for contextualizing pottery in Vila Real) and the clay samples collected along National Road 2, with their chromatic beauty, are other ingredients to appreciate when you visit this center, which is literally surrounded by this heritage, in a place reserved for you, where you will have unique experiences!