The war machine destroys the pillory of 1700

Special Forces Center vehicles travel the three kilometers between the Penude and Santa Cruz barracks in Lamego dozens of times a day without incident. But on October 21, 2022, a military van came around a bend and destroyed the Arneiros pillory, built in the 18th century and protected as a property of public interest since 1933.

More than a year later, the pillory remains broken on the floor. TO CMThe Army says it has “accepted responsibility” by activating the vehicle’s insurance. Arsilio Jorge Lamelas, president of the parish council of Vila Nova de Souto d’El Rey, told the CM that he had “started all the procedures” with the Regional Directorate of Culture of the North (DRCN) and the Department of Culture and Heritage of the Chamber of Lamego, as well as “ various steps to carry out the restoration.” But he faced “numerous difficulties” in finding a “qualified company” to meet the “technical conditions stipulated in the specifications and narrative report” sent by the DRCN.

TO CMFrancisco López, President of the Lamego Chamber, states that now that we are addressing these difficulties, it has been decided that it is the Chamber that will “expedite as quickly as possible the formalization of the tender procedure and the execution of the conservation and restoration of the pillory.” To expose and punish criminals, pillory pillars (or picotes) were erected in a public place, attached to a stone column.

Nobody says how much the work costs

During the interrogation, the three organizations do not disclose the cost of restoration because the Army does not know about them, but they provide “liaison with local authorities and the insurance company to accept responsibility and repair the damage caused.”