History

Memory is not a continuous, smooth, and unwavering line, but a jolt of the heart.

The invitation at the Houses of Memory is to come and exalt your heart and create your own memories. Because there are central places that forge feelings and tattoo patterns of happiness onto the skin, affective imprints and reasons to return again and again. In this place you can experience five different houses, proportional to the number of special people with whom you wish to share this universe woven from threads of feeling. As a couple, as a family. With friends or even alone. A delicate canvas that adapts to each person's body, in an emotional haute couture design, with medieval aromas announcing eternities.

The houses are situated on a property of approximately five hectares with an inspiring view of the Santa Helena mountain range, offering indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a tennis court, an Olympic riding arena, and romantic picnic areas where the omnipresence of water helps to create a bucolic and inspiring setting.

Sharing, emotions, history, and comfort are key words to understanding the soul of this place.

THE MEMORY OF HOUSES

A central place where the heart leaps and tradition is kept alive.

A great love gave rise to this unique hospitality project, which brings together four neighboring houses on the same narrow, winding street, an organic path where the same longing flows and a mix of distinct stories.

Safeguarding the memory, the historical and cultural legacy, and keeping the original love alive is the noble purpose of this project. More noble than the coat of arms itself that crowns the centuries-old entrance of the Casa do Cimo da Vila, where the surnames Pinto, Maya, Fonseca, and Vasconcelos unite, with the male line of the Vasconcelos family.
The house of the Captains-Major, in the Osório de Vasconcelos family since the 17th century, is the beating heart of the Houses of Memory, the root and reason for being of everything that has been added to it. An affective heritage, the family cradle of the couple Jorge and Assunção, whose great love has already brought children and grandchildren, who often return here to celebrate sharing and nurture memory, occupying an ancestral manor house for the exclusive use of the family, but which can be visited, with an impressive library, a chapel and oratory, and even underground passages.

A family story

Centered around the Captains-Major's house and surrounded by a cluster of small manor houses, the complex that forms the Houses of Memory has been in the Osório de Vasconcelos family since the 17th century. In 1995, the Captains-Major's house was bequeathed to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Lamego. But history dictated that this heritage would return to the family, and in 1997, Assunção Osório de Vasconcelos and her husband, Jorge Jardim Gonçalves, reacquired the house and began a rehabilitation project that culminated in the Houses of Memory as they are today. Assunção and Jorge spent many happy moments here with their children and grandchildren. Memories are present throughout, in the gardens, the vineyards, the library, and in the photographs that record moments of a full life, in which dedication to family, entrepreneurial spirit, and service to the community and the country are distinctive traits. And because memories must be preserved, Assunção and Jorge brought, properly cataloged, all their personal archive collection – which includes records of their rich student life, involvement in associations and volunteering, professional lives in teaching and banking, personal and family life – to Mondim da Beira. Jorge's personal library also traveled from his home in Sintra to the place where memories of the past are concentrated, with eyes on the future. Welcome to the Houses of Memory!

A secular heritage

This is the main manor house, reserved for the exclusive use of the family and their Guests. House of the Captains-Major of Mondim da Beira for several generations, the last Captain-Major, D. José Pinto de Mesquita Pimentel, born in 1766 and died in 1842, was from it. In 1834, with the restoration of the National Guard, the figure of the captains-major disappeared. It is probably the only emblazoned house of Mondim that still exists in the family of arms that make up its coat of arms (Pinto, Maya, Fonseca, and Vasconcelos, with the Vasconcelos manor).
With an indoor library, chapel, and oratory, this house houses the memories of Assunção and Jorge's lives, perpetuating their legacy. Although reserved for family use, the house can be visited upon request. Contact us to learn about the conditions of this guided tour.

The Legacy

The rehabilitation of Casas da Memória also represented an opportunity to enhance the region. The Arquivo Municipal Jardim Gonçalves, located in the small town of Mondim da Beira, housed in a former Cistercian granary, now houses a wealth of documentary material essential for understanding local and regional history. In the home of the Captains-Major, the personal library of Assunção and Jorge Jardim Gonçalves contains hundreds of volumes that help us chart and understand the history of an important period in Portugal's history. At Casas da Memória, we want to honor the past and leave our legacy for future generations.