Lousal
Lousal is a place in the Freguesia Azinheira dos Barros e São Mamede do Sádão in the western part of the Grândola district ( Portugal ). The place became famous for a pyrite mine in the pyrite belt of the south Iberian peninsula , which was first opened in 1900 and in 1928 changed to the company SAPEC, which also took over the exploitation of the pyrite mines in Aljustrel. In 1988 this mine was closed.
Since then the place has had high unemployment and is suffering from social misery. Today there is a mining museum. This complex now also includes a mine restaurant and hotel, as well as a local center for handicrafts and art objects. The project has received funding from the European Community since 2000 and can therefore offer the local population jobs that have largely been lost due to the closure of the mine. There is a reservoir next to the place .
The megalithic complexes of Lousal are located on a hill on the outskirts .
Mining museum
The Lousal Mining Museum is a museum in the village of Lousal and is also called 'Centro Ciência Viva do Lousal'. The museum is located in the old building of the power station on the site of the disused mine and represents an important contribution in the field of Portuguese industrial archeology.
The museum was officially inaugurated on June 30, 2010 and is the result of a partnership between the Frédéric Velge Foundation (composed of the City Council of Grândola and the company SAPEC), the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Lisbon and the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture in collaboration with the Ciência Viva do Lousal association.
environment
In Lousal, the ecological situation is still unclear after the mine was closed. Nobody took over the remediation of the environmental damage and contaminated sites and there are still lakes with toxic sulphurous waste directly in the village.
gallery
Lousal pyrite mine
Lousal Mine Museum
Environmental damage to the Mina de Lousal
Web links
- Monumento megalítico do Lousal. In: Pesquisa Geral - Pesquisa do Patrimonio. Direção Geral do Património Cultural , accessed March 27, 2018 (Portuguese).
Coordinates: 38 ° 2 ′ N , 8 ° 26 ′ W