Category: Civil Architecture > Museum
District: Santarém > Abrantes > Abrantes > São João
The Abrantes Municipal Art Gallery, known as Quartel, is located in the São João area, an urban zone of the town of Abrantes. It is situated in Largo de Sant'ana, offering a discreet yet striking cultural presence within the city's urban fabric.
The building that today houses the Abrantes Municipal Art Gallery has a unique history. Once, it functioned as the municipal fire station, serving the Abrantes community from this location. On August 31, 2013, the space was inaugurated with a new purpose, transforming into a gallery dedicated to the dissemination of contemporary art. This initiative continued work already developed in other parts of the city, establishing Abrantes as a cultural hub.
For a period, the Quartel played a central role in exhibiting the Figueiredo Ribeiro Collection, a significant collection of contemporary Portuguese art. Although this collection moved to another museum space in 2021, the Quartel remains an important cultural venue, reaffirming its mission in the city.
Currently, the Quartel is dedicated to being a stage for regional artists and for artistic experimentation. It is a place where different projects in the field of arts can be developed, including workshops and other activities designed to take place within the space itself. The gallery is organized on three distinct levels: the ground floor and the first floor are dedicated to exhibition areas, while the lower floor hosts educational activities and smaller-scale events, always with a focus on visual arts and culture.
The architecture of the Quartel stands out for its flexibility. The vast exhibition halls can be kept open or subdivided into smaller areas through the use of movable panels. This feature allows each new exhibition to reinvent the space, creating a unique scenic environment for each artistic proposal presented to visitors.
In addition to exhibitions, the Quartel hosts an original project, "Quartel Talks." This initiative focuses on the production of audiovisual content, recording interviews with artists who exhibit in the gallery. It is a way to deepen knowledge about personalities linked to art, including local talents, and to explore their journeys, convictions, and the current artistic panorama, both nationally and internationally.
The project values dialogue, allowing a more intimate and journalistic perspective on the art world. The setting, marked by the displayed contemporary art and the unique atmosphere of the Quartel, contributes to a captivating record that facilitates access to diverse ideas and perspectives in the artistic field.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt
Coordinates DD: 39.4642652,-8.201073
Coordinates DMS: 39°27'51.4"N 08°12'3.9"W
Weather Abrantes
On-duty Pharmacy Abrantes
