•
Vila Real, Portugal
Text description provided by the architects. Silent and hermetic, the Vila Velha Museum appears to be the mimesis of the granite escarpments that girdle the rivers, a mimesis of archaeological labours.
Within it old and archaic are linked to the new. The past runs through it like sap inside an old tree. From the outside we see a compact building, from the inside it seems to levitate, floating above nature and the ruins. Like an enigma, the Vila Velha Museum opens momentarily only to shut again.
