News
New Member of the International Fortress Council
Associação Portuguesa dos Amigos dos Castelos- APAC
The APAC, a non-profit association, founded in 1983, is a national association for the defense of heritage, and its objectives are the safeguarding and dissemination of natural and built heritage, with a special focus on fortified and military heritage, raising awareness and involving people and communities in their preservation. To fulfill its mission, the association promotes or collaborates in the organization of numerous cultural and scientific activities aimed at different audiences.
In 2003, the APAC was approved as ONG (Non-Governmental Organization of Environmental Interest) by decision of the Institute of the Environment, which increased its capacity to intervene in the safeguarding of the natural and built heritage, and in 2008 it was granted the status of Public Utility. This Association is linked to different Entities as the Forum Heritage, an institution that brings together several civil society associations in the defense of cultural heritage built for greater effectiveness of action on the ground. Since February 2024 our Association was accepted as membership of IFC.
The APAC activity is distributed in three different areas:
Heritage
Our castles and fortresses, together with their cultural and landscape surroundings, give a unique sense of identity to each place. In some cases, this meaning is more comprehensive, assuming a national, or even international, importance.
Through the Heritage area we seek to develop activities that deepen knowledge about these fortified sites, but also about other areas of our history and culture. In this sense, we developed scientific activity as courses, conferences, congresses and research projects, as well as various activities with other partners for the preservation and enhancement of heritage.
Divulgation
The APAC organize weekly study visits to different monuments, museums, cultural institutions, towns and cities in Portugal and abroad.
These visits, always accompanied by specialized technicians or researchers, aim to make known and interpret history and cultural heritage, in its different aspects and typologies.
Education
One of the main concerns is the implementation of heritage education programs, aimed at the school public and families. We intend to contribute so that our historical-cultural heritage can be considered by educational agents as a true pedagogical resource. Our proposal includes didactive projects, routes, workshops, and others activities. The Education Department is also responsible for the cultural promotion of the São Bruno Fort, in Caxias, through several initiatives.
The Association's headquarters are located in the fort of São Bruno, in Caxias (Oeiras); the secretariat is located in Lisbon - Rua Barros Queirós, 20 ,1º Esq. -1100-077 Lisboa
Site - https://amigosdoscastelos.pt/
In Memoriam Carlos Scheltema
Secretary-general of IFC 1989 - 2009
It is with great sadness that we learned that the Dutch architect Carlos Scheltema died in mid-December 2023 at the age of 94. He was a long-time member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Festungsforschung (DGF) and took part in numerous DGF conferences together with his wife Elisabeth, also an architect (who died in 2018). A passionate fortress researcher, he focused particularly on researching and renovating the fortress town of Naarden, but also on other defense fortifications in the Netherlands such as the “Stelling van Amsterdam”, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. He published numerous specialist publications on these topics.
Carlos was one of the pillars of ICOMOS in the Netherlands and, as a rapporteur, one of the experts responsible for the inclusion of the network of Vauban sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007. In 2013 he was made an honorary citizen of the Vauban cities of Villefranche de Conflent and Mont-Louis in France and received many other high honors, including being a Knight of the Dutch Order of Merit of Orange-Nassau. In 2014 he was appointed an honorary member of ICOMOS International by the General Assembly. This title is awarded to people “who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of preserving, restoring and enhancing monuments, sites and historical ensembles.” As a member of many organizations and associations such as the Stichting Menno van Coehoorn, the Fortress Study Group and the Association Vauban, he always had an international vision of fortress research in mind.
It is not surprising that he was one of the founding fathers and spiritus rector of the International Fortress Council (IFC), founded in The Hague in 1989, and served as its long-standing Secretary General. The ambitious “Multilingual Fortification Dictionary” (MFD) project was also created on his initiative.