Soajo Village / Vila do Soajo
Soajo has had several charters, the last one given in 1514. Later, it would become council, taking in Ermelo and Gavieira, but it was extinct on 17/02/1852, because of the liberal reformations.
This village has about 3.913 hectares and is located about 20 km from Arcos de Valdevez. It is limited on the North side by Gavieira, on the East side by Spain, on the South side by Lindoso and Britelo and on the West side by Gondoriz, Cabana Maior, Vale and Ermelo.
The region...
The Soajo village (Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal) is a structured settlement made up of granite houses that are characteristic in mountain regions. The houses are set beside narrow lanes, just wide enough for ox-carts to get by, deeply rutted by the use throughout the centuries.
The rustic houses are distinguishable more by their ethnographic than by their architectural value, being built out of materials regionally available. The cultural heritage without being exuberant and erudite, is an excellent repository of a humankind’s good relationship with nature. While keeping, and maintaining their rural origins, the visitor may enjoy the quietude of the environment and the scenarios, the peacefulness and the rural folk’s tunes.
This village is famous for its communitarian threshing-ground constituted by 24 stone granaries standing on granite. The most ancient one goes back to 1782. These granite monuments were built at a time when corn started being grown on a regular basis and they were used for the protection of cereal from storms and rodents. Part of these granaries are still used by the villagers.
Hórreo, in Portuguese is Espigueiros
An hórreo (Spanish) is a granary built in wood (Iberia or Scandinavia) or stone (Iberia), raised from the ground by pillars ("pegollos", in Asturian, "esteos", in Galician) ending in flat stones or "mueles" or "tornarratas", to avoid the access of rodents. Ventilation is allowed by the grooves in its walls. In some areas, hórreos are known as hórreu, horru (Asturian), horriu (Leonese), hurriu (Cantabrian), hórreo, paneira, canastro, piorno (Galician), espigueiro, canastro, eira (Portuguese), stabbur (Norwegian), härbre or more precisely stolphärbre or stolpbod (Swedish)
Hórreos are mainly found in Northwest Spain (though there are also in other Northern villages). There are two main types of hórreo, rectangular-shaped, the more extended, typical from Galicia and square-shaped from Asturias, León, western Cantabria and eastern Galicia. The oldest Spanish document containing an image of an hórreo is the Cantigas de Santa Maria by Alfonso X "El Sabio" (song CLXXXVII) from XII A.C. In this depiction, three rectangular hórreos of gothic style are illustrated. The longest hórreo in Galicia is located in Carnota, A Coruña and is 35 m long.
There are several types of Asturian hórreo, according to the characteristics of the roof (thatched, tiled, slate, pitched or double pitched...), the materials used for the pillars or the decoration. The oldest still standing date from the 15th century, and even nowadays they are built ex novo. There are an estimated 18,000 hórreos and paneras in Asturias, some are poorly preserved but there is a growing awareness from owners and authorities to maintain them in good shape.
Other similar granary structures include Asturian paneras (basically, big hórreos with more than four pillars), cabaceiras (galician round basketwork hórreo), espigueiros or canastros in northern Portugal, (the most famous concentration is located in Soajo), trojes or trojs in Castile or silos, and Balkan hambars.
The origin of the horreo is the horreum from the Roman Empire, and is an old technology nearly disappear in the rest of the empire.
Härbren exist throughout Sweden, but the more hórreo-like härbren, raised from the ground by pillars, are only found in the central and northern part of the country. The church häbre (kyrkhärbret) in Älvdalen, Dalarna, built circa 1285, is one of the oldest surviving non-religious wooden buildings in Sweden.
Português
O Soajo é uma vila e freguesia portuguesa do concelho de Arcos de Valdevez, com 58,59 km² de área e 1 159 habitantes (2001). Densidade: 19,8 h/km².
Foi vila e sede de concelho entre 1514 e meados do século XIX. Era constituído pelas freguesias de Ermelo, Gavieira e Soajo. Tinha, em 1801, 2 054 habitantes. Em 1849 tinha 3 159 habitantes.
Foi re-elevada à categora de vila em 12 de Junho de 2009
Espigueiros :
O conjunto dos Espigueiros de Soajo (Soajo, Arcos de Valdevez) compõem uma eira comunitária constituída por 24 espigueiros, todos em pedra e assentes num afloramento de granito. O mais antigo data de 1782. Alguns destes espigueiros são ainda hoje utilizados pela população.
Está classificado pelo IPPAR como Imóvel de Interesse Público desde 1983
Soajo Village / Vila do Soajo
Soajo has had several charters, the last one given in 1514. Later, it would become council, taking in Ermelo and Gavieira, but it was extinct on 17/02/1852, because of the liberal reformations.
This village has about 3.913 hectares and is located about 20 km from Arcos de Valdevez. It is limited on the North side by Gavieira, on the East side by Spain, on the South side by Lindoso and Britelo and on the West side by Gondoriz, Cabana Maior, Vale and Ermelo.
The region...
The Soajo village (Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal) is a structured settlement made up of granite houses that are characteristic in mountain regions. The houses are set beside narrow lanes, just wide enough for ox-carts to get by, deeply rutted by the use throughout the centuries.
The rustic houses are distinguishable more by their ethnographic than by their architectural value, being built out of materials regionally available. The cultural heritage without being exuberant and erudite, is an excellent repository of a humankind’s good relationship with nature. While keeping, and maintaining their rural origins, the visitor may enjoy the quietude of the environment and the scenarios, the peacefulness and the rural folk’s tunes.
This village is famous for its communitarian threshing-ground constituted by 24 stone granaries standing on granite. The most ancient one goes back to 1782. These granite monuments were built at a time when corn started being grown on a regular basis and they were used for the protection of cereal from storms and rodents. Part of these granaries are still used by the villagers.
Hórreo, in Portuguese is Espigueiros
An hórreo (Spanish) is a granary built in wood (Iberia or Scandinavia) or stone (Iberia), raised from the ground by pillars ("pegollos", in Asturian, "esteos", in Galician) ending in flat stones or "mueles" or "tornarratas", to avoid the access of rodents. Ventilation is allowed by the grooves in its walls. In some areas, hórreos are known as hórreu, horru (Asturian), horriu (Leonese), hurriu (Cantabrian), hórreo, paneira, canastro, piorno (Galician), espigueiro, canastro, eira (Portuguese), stabbur (Norwegian), härbre or more precisely stolphärbre or stolpbod (Swedish)
Hórreos are mainly found in Northwest Spain (though there are also in other Northern villages). There are two main types of hórreo, rectangular-shaped, the more extended, typical from Galicia and square-shaped from Asturias, León, western Cantabria and eastern Galicia. The oldest Spanish document containing an image of an hórreo is the Cantigas de Santa Maria by Alfonso X "El Sabio" (song CLXXXVII) from XII A.C. In this depiction, three rectangular hórreos of gothic style are illustrated. The longest hórreo in Galicia is located in Carnota, A Coruña and is 35 m long.
There are several types of Asturian hórreo, according to the characteristics of the roof (thatched, tiled, slate, pitched or double pitched...), the materials used for the pillars or the decoration. The oldest still standing date from the 15th century, and even nowadays they are built ex novo. There are an estimated 18,000 hórreos and paneras in Asturias, some are poorly preserved but there is a growing awareness from owners and authorities to maintain them in good shape.
Other similar granary structures include Asturian paneras (basically, big hórreos with more than four pillars), cabaceiras (galician round basketwork hórreo), espigueiros or canastros in northern Portugal, (the most famous concentration is located in Soajo), trojes or trojs in Castile or silos, and Balkan hambars.
The origin of the horreo is the horreum from the Roman Empire, and is an old technology nearly disappear in the rest of the empire.
Härbren exist throughout Sweden, but the more hórreo-like härbren, raised from the ground by pillars, are only found in the central and northern part of the country. The church häbre (kyrkhärbret) in Älvdalen, Dalarna, built circa 1285, is one of the oldest surviving non-religious wooden buildings in Sweden.
Português
O Soajo é uma vila e freguesia portuguesa do concelho de Arcos de Valdevez, com 58,59 km² de área e 1 159 habitantes (2001). Densidade: 19,8 h/km².
Foi vila e sede de concelho entre 1514 e meados do século XIX. Era constituído pelas freguesias de Ermelo, Gavieira e Soajo. Tinha, em 1801, 2 054 habitantes. Em 1849 tinha 3 159 habitantes.
Foi re-elevada à categora de vila em 12 de Junho de 2009
Espigueiros :
O conjunto dos Espigueiros de Soajo (Soajo, Arcos de Valdevez) compõem uma eira comunitária constituída por 24 espigueiros, todos em pedra e assentes num afloramento de granito. O mais antigo data de 1782. Alguns destes espigueiros são ainda hoje utilizados pela população.
Está classificado pelo IPPAR como Imóvel de Interesse Público desde 1983