Category: Archaeology > Dolmen
District: Évora > Montemor-o-Novo > Ciborro
The Antas Grandes do Paço are located in the village of Ciborro, in the municipality of Montemor-o-Novo, in the heart of the Évora district. The site is set in a vast and serene Alentejo landscape, where open horizons are dotted with scattered cork and holm oaks, creating a natural frame for this ancient monument.
The surroundings offer an atmosphere of quietness and an authentic view over the plain, inviting contemplation and immersion in the rural tranquility that characterizes this region of the Alentejo.
This remarkable monument is an eloquent remnant of distant times, dating back to the Neolithic period, when the human communities of this region erected large-scale structures for funerary and ritual purposes. Its existence attests to the presence of prehistoric populations, revealing their beliefs and practices from thousands of years ago.
The historical and cultural importance of this site was formally recognized with its classification as a National Monument in 1910, highlighting the value of this testament to the ancestral presence in Portuguese territory.
The monument is impressive for its imposing construction, typical of megalithic architecture. It is composed of large vertical stones, carefully arranged to form a central chamber, topped by a massive stone slab that serves as a roof. The robustness of the materials, predominantly granite or schist, and the technique used to erect these stone masses, without the aid of modern machinery, reveal remarkable ingenuity and collective strength on the part of its builders.
The precision in its construction suggests a well-defined purpose and a strong social organization of the communities that conceived and carried out this enduring work, a challenge to the passage of time.
The atmosphere around the Antas Grandes do Paço is one of singular quietness, where the past merges with the present in the vastness of the Alentejo. The presence of this structure invites reflection on human resilience and our ancestral search for meaning and a connection with the transcendent.
It is a place where history can be felt in the air, where the stones seem to whisper tales of ancient civilizations, and where the surrounding landscape, almost untouched, underscores the permanence of nature in the face of human transience, offering an immersive experience in a timeless piece of Portuguese history and landscape.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt
Coordinates DD: 38.77124396517203,-8.218725517563827
Coordinates DMS: 38°46'16.5"N 08°13'7.4"W
Weather Ciborro
On-duty Pharmacy Ciborro
