An Eduardo Souto De Moura-Designed Memorial for Portugal Fire Victims Opens to the Public

Last week, Eduardo Souto de Moura, a 2011 Pritzker Prize laureate for architecture, created a memorial in tribute to the Victims of the 2017 Forest Fires in Pedrógo Grande, a Portuguese village about 55 kilometers from Coimbra. 66 people were killed, and 253 were injured in this horrific catastrophe.

About 1.8 million Euros were spent on the project Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) proposed two years ago. IP states that the monument’s surrounding lake is roughly 2,500 square meters. A gargoyle, about 60 meters in length, provides water to the lake, surrounded by an expanse of flora, including white water lilies, blossoms, and ranunculus. IP also claims that the project will have a memorial wall bearing the names of all victims.

Why Eduardo Souto de Moura?

Since one of Eduardo Souto de Moura’s workers died there while traveling home from Praia das Rocas with her family, Eduardo Souto Moura had an emotional attachment to the catastrophe. This life-altering realization drove him to start the work. There were 66 fatalities and 253 injuries from the fire in Pedrógo Grande.

It destroyed almost 500 homes, including 261 permanent ones, and impacted 50 businesses. Of the 47 people who lost their lives, approximately two-thirds were on the EN (national route) 236-1 between Castanheira de Pera and Figueiró dos Vinhos when the fire erupted.

The fires affected about 53,000 areas of land, of which 20,000 hectares were forested. Pedrógo Grande, Castanheira de Pera, and Figueiró dos Vinhos were the worst-hit localities in the Leiria province. Góis, Penela, Pampilhosa da Serra, and Sert were all in the path of the flames as they spread through Coimbra. Fires also affected Alvaiázere and Ansio’s communities in Leiria, Arganil in Coimbra, and Oleiros in Castelo Branco.

On October 17, 2017, four months after the fire in June, another forest fire swept through the same area, killing 49 more people, increasing the total number of deaths to 115. Due to the efforts of Eduardo Souto de Moura, Infraestruturas de Portugal, and the Association of Victims of the Pedrógo Grande Fire (AVIPG), the monument was reopened to the public on June 16 without any fanfare or formalities.