About Our Gallery

"A Dega" is a "deconstruction" of the Portuguese word "adega", which means cellar and is associated to wine. Since the end of 17th Century the building was used to make and store wine, as well as to keep olive oil. The production of wine finished in Coz (also spelt Cós) during the 1950 decade, because in those rich lands modern orchards of apple and pear trees replaced vineyards.

The Convent of Coz (a village near Alcobaça) had a first building in the 16^th Century and was later enlarged; the most of last works must date from the end 17^th until early 18^th Century. It was built for accommodation of nuns depending from the important cistercian Monastery of Alcobaça. After the nationalisation of all real estate of religious orders after the liberal revolution of 1820, their lands and buildings were sold to private owners. A family from a neighboring village bought the cellar and later an owner sold it to Helena Barros Ferreira's grandfather, Prof. José dos Santos Teodoro.

The building was preserved with its casks, tuns, vats, the stone tank and press where wine was made and stone reservoirs for olive oil, however with some litter inside and little damages in walls and roof. In 1994 the painter Jose Barata de Castilho  proposed to his mother in law to restore the building in order to set up an art gallery in it. The transformation works followed the principle that everything should stay as it was formerly, only cleaning the space and restoring damages.

The opening of this gallery was in 1997. As much as we know, it was the first art gallery in a Portuguese village and it began as an experiment. However, this event had a great impact among population and in the press, as well as the Cultural Direction of Alcobaça Guildhall. Beyond the region, visitors came from Lisbon, Oporto, tourists from other parts of the country and abroad. 

Since 1977 until November 2002 the gallery received 31 exhibitions, of which 5 were international shows. "Euro 2000" was the first international show in it, during August 1999, following a proposal of the Spanish "European Guide of Fine Arts".
On March 9-13, 2000 this gallery was with a stand in New York at the important "Artexpo New York 2000".
In 2003 the gallery was closed at Coz, as a consequence of familly problems, the Painter José Barata (also José Barata de Castilho, latest atistic name) moved to his home city - Castelo Branco - where he created a visitable art gallery (see https://www.pinacoteca-crl.com) in "Solar dos Cardosos", his ancestors home from XVIth Century (that he bought with strong ruins and restored).