• This action is part of the Atlantic Romanesque Plan, a cooperation project between different entities in Spain and Portugal to enhance the value of heritage, which includes the restoration of about twenty Romanesque temples located in the Spanish provinces of Zamora and Salamanca and in the Portuguese regions of Porto, Vila-Real and Bragança.
  • The mayor of Chaves, Nuno Vaz, the president of Fundación Iberdrola España, Fernando García, and the regional director of Culture of the North, Laura Castro, inaugurated this morning the first phase of the restoration project of the Portuguese temple of Nuestra Señora de la Encina and presented the second phase of the intervention.

Iberdrola, through its foundation in Spain, has concluded the exterior restoration works of the Portuguese temple of Nuestra Señora de la Encina, in the municipality of Chaves, in order to conserve and enhance the cultural heritage of northern Portugal.

This action is part of the Atlantic Romanesque Plan, a collaboration project between different entities of Spain and Portugal for the conservation of cultural heritage, which includes the restoration of about twenty Romanesque churches located in the Spanish provinces of Zamora and Salamanca and in the Portuguese regions of Porto, Vila-Real and Bragança.

The president of the Municipal Chamber of Chaves, Nuno Vaz, the president of the Iberdrola Spain Foundation, Fernando García, the regional director of Culture of the North, Laura Castro, and the Parish Priest of Outeiro Seco, Monsignor José Guerra Banha have inaugurated this morning the first phase of the project of rehabilitation of the temple and have presented the second phase of the intervention, corresponding to the set of actions of conservation and restoration of the heritage integrated in the building, both phases will involve a total investment of more than 350,000 euros.

The restoration works carried out in recent months by the company Reabitarte, include the complete replacement of the roof, guttering and gutters, cleaning and treatment of the exterior masonry, as well as decorative elements, restoration of doors, stained glass windows and protective railings and peripheral drainage around the church declared as an Asset of Public Interest (BIP) and owned by the Portuguese State.

Románico Atlántico, a cross-border cooperation initiative

This cross-border collaboration began in 2010 to accompany Iberdrola’s hydroelectric project on the Támega River, one of the largest of its kind in Europe in the last 25 years.

With a budget of 4.5 million euros, the aim of the Atlantic Romanesque Plan is to conserve, restore and enhance the value of the heritage, while laying the foundations for sustainable growth and development of the territory, through job creation, socio-economic revitalization, tourism promotion and redistribution of investment among the rural areas in which it intervenes.

This project intensifies the strong commitment existing between Iberdrola, Castilla y León – the company’s commitment to clean energies began precisely with the promotion of the Saltos del Duero over 110 years ago – and Portugal, a country where the group has important projects underway.