This month, we welcomed students from the international master's programme in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions (SAHC), from the Universidade do Minho, for a visit to the Ponte do Soeiro construction site in Guimarães. 

This is a medieval bridge, around 20 metres long and 3,8 metres wide, protected as an archaeological heritage site under the Planning Map of the Guimarães Municipal Master Plan. 

"It's definitely important to look at how these types of materials are used. Granite, for example, is not a material I'm familiar with. So it's good to see this style of masonry and also the dry stone walls, which is something very characteristic of northern Portugal and which I've never seen before. It's interesting to see these types of construction methods with my own eyes", says student Laila, from the United States of America.  

Carolina, from South Korea, also enjoyed the visit. "We always do a lot of laboratory work in the classroom, but it's totally different to see the work on site", she shared.

The rehabilitation of the Soeiro Bridge is a sui generis intervention. It's a project in the middle of a river, so it's the main driver of what happens throughout the process, which forces the company to manage resources, both time and materials.  

1500 years of history

What's more, it's still a structure that's over 1500 years old, with its own time problems. Its future must be guaranteed while respecting its history. 

During the visit, our conservator/restorer and co-founder of Signinum, António Cardoso, share with the students a fundamental message about preserving heritage and respecting traditional materials and techniques. "I wanted to show that if you know your heritage, you can always guarantee its preservation, make it more modern, without distorting what we have inherited from the past". 

Watch the video with the students' testimonies here.