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The building of the former Saboaria e Perfumaria Confiança, in Braga, was classified as a monument of public interest, according to an ordinance published today in Diário da República (RD).
The request for classification came from the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage (DGPC) and was granted by the Undersecretary of State and Cultural Heritage, Ângela Carvalho Ferreira.
The order highlights that the building is equipped with an “impressive urban front, very representative of the industrial architecture of the 19th century, which contributed greatly to the urban delimitation of the main road axis and the surroundings, where several manufacturing units were once concentrated” .
“This authentic industrial estate, which integrates a series of pavilions and public places, including social spaces, has been gradually abandoned, as Confiança’s work moved to more modern infrastructures, in a movement that coincided with the disappearance of the fabric industrial late 19th century. Braga ”, he adds.
It stands out that the building of the Fábrica da Saboaria e Perfumaria Confiança, as well as the remains that are still preserved, of which an “important” archive is part, “thus represents the last testimony of a heritage in Braga of which there is less and less vestiges ”.
“However, its historical and social dimension is not limited to the history of the industrialization of the city, not even in the nineteenth century, but affects the whole of northern Portugal, and a chronology that probably extends to much longer times. remote. , and there is reason to believe that the site still preserves part of the Via Romana XVII, which connected Braga with Astorga, ”the publication also reads.
The Confiança factory was inaugurated in 1921, having produced perfumes and soaps until 2005.
In 2012 it was acquired by the Chamber, then chaired by the socialist Mesquita Machado, for 3.6 million euros.
An ideas competition for the building was opened, but meanwhile in 2013 the chamber changed hands and in September 2018 the new PSD / CDS-PP / PPM majority voted for the sale, claiming that due to lack of funds available for the rehabilitation, the building is in a “state of visible and progressive degradation”.
Alienation has always been contested by Save the Factory Trust Trust Platform and by opposition parties, who argue that the building, given its historical and architectural value, must remain in the public sphere and be updated and transformed into a cultural space.
The platform has already intervened three precautionary measures to try to stop the sale of the property, but the court did not show it.
The chamber, for its part, has already promoted two public offers to try to sell the property, for the base price of 3.6 million euros, but no interested party has appeared.
Therefore, the Chamber admits the possibility of making the building available to a public university residence with about 300 places to build there.
However, and as the mayor said today, there has been “a lot of immobility” on the part of the Government in relation to the new university residences, with a focus on agreements with private establishments.
“We are still available [para ceder o imóvel da Confiança]”Said Ricardo Río, considering that the project is good for both the State and a private developer.
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