A UNESCO Creative City for crafts and folk art since 2017, located in the Northwest of Portugal. It has just over 116,000 inhabitants and a very strong connection between the local inhabitants and the craftsmanship community, which has always paved the way for a sustainable creative sector.
The city of Barcelos has always been a creative hub, in its essence due to its strong links with handicrafts, with special emphasis on traditional earthenware and the famous Galo de Barcelos (Barcelos Rooster), which has become a true icon of national tourism. These and other products, such as woodwork, ironwork, and embroidery, were recognized worldwide by the Barcelos weekly fair, an event that was and still is deeply linked to the large-scale sale of local handicrafts.
Therefore, the municipality keeps on investing in the development of crafts and folk art as differentiating arguments of the territory, and in the preservation of traditions as structuring elements of local society, as well as in their perpetuation for future generations.
Being a UNESCO Creative City adds merit to the crafts and folk arts tradition developed in the municipality and represents an opportunity for sustainable development. Today, some of the major challenges facing the municipality concern new job opportunities for young people in this area, the resurgence of handicrafts, most traditional productions such as ceramics, wood, embroidery, iron and other areas such as contemporary arts, creative industries, or even tourism and/or commerce.
This present day’s reality is the reflection of a culture that over the centuries has led to a great degree of specialization, diversity and creativity of work, which has contributed to nurture activities that became real work organizations and centers for the promotion of arts. There is a specific knowledge and culture of know-how in this territory, embodied particularly in 3 endemic and now certified productions (Pottery, Clay Figurines and Crivo Embroidery).
In Barcelos, craftwork is a transversal activity and a true foundation of the territory and its people. It symbolizes a collective “way of life”, fundamental in the transgenerational bases of families, with decisive contributions to the formation of the local social and cultural identity, with a focus on the production of clay and embroidery, that have marked the course of many generations who from childhood were driven to the arts and crafts, once as means of subsistence, and today true living heritage of the territory and are the genesis of the local cultural identity.