Regional Houses
Arganil District House
When the Casa da Comarca of Arganil brought Our Lady of Mont'alto and the Child of Jesus of Ladeira to Lisbon in December 2024, many people were teary-eyed. The image, welcomed by the music and religious songs of the Rancho Folclórico de Arganil and the Banda Filarmónica de Avô and carried by the Arganil Fire Brigade in a candlelight procession that passed through Av. da Liberdade and went to the Igreja da Anunciada, marked the House of Arganil, but also the city of Lisbon.
"I saw people crying when the Saint came",
recalls Carlos Manuel Almeida Luís, 68, president of the board of Casa da Comarca de Arganil for 12 years.
Since 1929, the Casa da Comarca de Arganil has been an important meeting point and support for people from the municipality. But also for the dissemination of culture, traditions, gastronomy and handicrafts. "When I was born, Arganil didn't have electricity, it didn't have water in the house, it didn't have tarmac roads or even roads at all." In search of better living conditions, the people of Arganil settled in Lisbon at the beginning of the 20th century.
"In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, they started organizing parties, meetings and get-togethers," explains Carlos Manuel. "The Casa da Comarca de Arganil was very well known. It even had a theater, where many artists linked to our country's culture played." In addition, "there were many parties, almost every Saturday night. There was a time, between 1950 and 1970, when parties were held every Saturday, from January until May, until the Lisbon city festivities began."
Spreading popular traditions
The people of Arganil, many of whom worked in hotels and restaurants, "brought things from the land, such as olive oil, sausages, potatoes, onions, which were auctioned here". And with effort and hard work, they helped to build their villages:
"The Casa da Comarca de Arganil played a crucial role in the development of their villages through improvement committees, which raised funds to build infrastructure such as schools and roads."
The dissemination of Arganil's popular culture in Lisbon is, above all, a source of pride for the people of Arganil. The Rancho Folclórico, about to turn 45, and the Grupo de Concertinas, "represent what is most traditional and genuine in our villages. The evenings, music and songs of our great-grandparents."
And then there's the gastronomy, which enchants half the world with its stomach:
"The traditional chanfana, which is a characteristic dish of the municipality of Arganil. The bucho. The sausages and the good mountain cheese, the honey, the olive oil itself."
The Casa da Comarca de Arganil will be 96 years old on December 8, 2025.
It is located at Rua da Fé, 23, in the parish of Santo António.