ROCK IN BATALHA: FROM SUBSTANCE TO LIFE | MCCB - O museu de todos

Planning an exhibition focussed on the stone of the Estremenho Limestone Massif has long been on the list of themes suggested by the people of Batalha — a topic of shared interest that emerged in the context of local development and collaborative research.

The Estremenho Limestone Massif is impossible to overlook.  With its striking, unusual forms — born from the interplay of limestone and water over millions of years — it has shaped valleys, hills, caves, and rivers. These natural features have long been used wisely by the communities that settled here.

Well before the construction of the Monastery, mountain communities had already found countless ways to shape and make use of the loose stones and limestone formations they encountered.  Troughs, walls, fountains, and a variety of other structures still stand as proof of this resourcefulness.

The Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória highlighted the importance of the Massif’s limestone. Its location — in the valley where the town of Batalha now lies — was chosen largely because of the nearby availability of this stone, which was essential to marking the historic event it was built to commemorate.

As always, this project was made possible thanks to the contributions of the local communities and the work of researchers and experts across the four main areas on which we focus here.

My personal thanks go to Liliana Póvoas, Danilo Guimarães, Saul António, João Feteira, Pedro Redol, Clara Moura Soares, Luís Jordão, and Ana Moderno, representing the many people who worked on this project — and there are many, as you’ll see in the Credits section. Now published, their reflective writings were key to shaping this project.

Stone and stonemasonry have long been an important source of development for the community of Batalha - a constant presence in daily life, helping shape its history, culture, and way of life.

This exhibition is, above all, an attempt to give the stone a personal dimension — to bring it to life through those who work with it, and to reveal the creations that emerge from it, shaped by nature, by artists, by master stonemasons, and by the communities that grow and live alongside it. 

 Ana Mercedes Stoffel - Exhibition coordinator and museologist