Zabezpieczenie fabryki prochu w Vale de Milhaços oraz konserwacja generatora pary i silnika parowego

Graça Filipe

doi:10.37190/arc200103

Streszczenie

Tematem artykułu jest fabryka czarnego prochu w Vale de Milhaços w Portugalii jako przykład ochrony dziedzictwa postindustrialnego. Ukazano proces przekształcenia czynnego zakładu produkcyjnego w muzeum. Produkcja za pomocą maszyn parowych rozpoczęła się tam w 1896 r. Wykorzystywano innowacyjny system do przesyłania energii mechanicznej na odległość przez połączenie budynku centralnej siłowni wałami przesyłowymi do ośmiu warsztatów produkcyjnych. Produkcja zasilana parą trwała do 2001 r., kiedy Black Gunpowder Circuit wszedł w skład Seixal Municipal Ecomuseum pod zarządem gminy Seixal. Miało to na celu zachowanie dziedzictwa technicznego, w tym budynków, maszyn produkcyjnych, wyposażenia i narzędzi dawnej fabryki. Co ważne, zakład został zachowany na miejscu wraz z działającą maszyną parową obsługiwaną przy wykorzystaniu wiedzy fachowej pracowników fabryki. Wymagało to wielu procedur technicznych, administracyjnych i zarządzania dziedzictwem, w tym klasyfikacji dziedzictwa, zezwoleń dotyczących urządzeń ciśnieniowych i urządzeń przemysłowych (odnowienie licencji na takie urządzenia uzgodnione z odpowiednimi organami administracji publicznej i gospodarki). W celu realizacji projektu rozwijano również partnerstwo z uniwersytetami i badaczami, w tym w ramach projektu IH4Future – Kultura materialna, kultura naukowa: dziedzictwo przemysłowe w przyszłości, w którego ramach specjaliści: historycy, muzealnicy, i konserwatorzy zbadali materialne zasoby dziedzictwa na terenie byłej fabryki, stosując wiele technik analitycznych. Badania te dostarczyły wiedzy na temat historii przemysłu i rozwoju technologicznego fabryki prochu Vale de Milhaços, która to wspiera jej konserwację i rozwój jako muzeum.

Podgląd pełnego artykułu jest możliwy wyłącznie na większych ekranach.

2020

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DOI: 10.37190/arc200103

Contextualizing the site and the project

The heritagisation of the Black Gunpowder Factory

Circuit in Vale de Milhaços

and the museum project that

brings it into association with the Seixal Municipal Eco-

museum constitutes a paradigmatic and landmark case in

Portugal: the safeguarding of an industrial site undergoing

a scenario of deindustrialisation, fully converting this her-

itage site for public enjoyment and reutilisation (Fig. 1).

The recognition of the heritage value of the core cluster

of buildings of the Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Facto-

ry took place towards the end of its operational life (in

the 1990s and early years of this century) and ensured the

establishment of the minimum conditions for its transi-

tion to heritage management under municipal supervision

[1], [2]. It is this management, irrespective of all of the

inherent diculties due to the scale of the site and the

overall shortage of resources for its protection, that seeks

to reconcile the reutilisation and participation in the site

with the implementation of a conservation, study, docu-

mentation and mediation project. The museum program

drafted at the launch of the project opted unequivocally

for the operational conservation of the integrated movable

heritage and attributed specic importance to the steam-

powered generation equipment [3].

* ORCID: 0000-0003-1317-0159. Ecomuseu Municipal do Seixal,

Portugal.

Vale de Milhaços belongs to the municipality of Seixal, district

of Setúbal, in Portugal.

Graça Filipe*

The safeguarding of the Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory

and the operational conservation of the steam generator

and the steam engine

Zabezpieczenie fabryki prochu w Vale de Milhaços

oraz konserwacja generatora pary i silnika parowego

This option raises relevant conceptual and methodo-

logical questions and the practical experience acquired

over various years conrms the need for multidisciplinary

analysis spanning a broad range of reection in order

to design and conceive the future valuation and safeguard-

ing heritage program.

The production of black gunpowder in Vale de Mil-

haços began in 1896 in a steam engine powered facility

[3], [4]. However, in 1897, a serious accident partially

destroyed the raw materials processing workshops and

led to the deaths of various employees. In 1898, follow-

ing recapitalisation and the launching of a new business,

a new factory was built while taking advantage of some

of the surviving original structures. With investments

in new buildings and production equipment, adapted to

the French and Germany models, there was a signicant

technological step forwards.

The production structure relied on an innovative sys-

tem for transmitting mechanical energy over distance

and interconnecting the central building with transmis-

sion houses for eight sets of buildings each containing

their own production workshops. This innovative sys-

tem installed in Vale de Milhaços followed some of the

characteristics of other important factories of that time,

such as those of Barcarena (Portugal) and Sevran-Livry

(France) [5], [6].

With a corresponding need for greater energy pro-

duction, both thermal and mechanical, a new boiler

was installed (in 1898, the Pierre Dumora brand) and

a steam-engine with a greater capacity (in 1900, the Joseph

18 Graça Filipe

Farcot brand imported from France) with an output of

125 CV

In 1911, another new boiler (nationally produced by

the João Peres brand) was installed to denitively replace

the original factory boiler.

This spanned the entire range of infrastructures neces-

sary to the chain of production, capturing and supplying

water, safety spaces between workshops, support services

and with other buildings holding social and habitational

functions with the Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory

covering an area of some 20 hectares.

In 1899, Companhia Africana de Pólvora produced 439

tons of gunpowder, thus even exceeding the average fore-

cast level of production (Fig. 2).

In the mid-1990s (and well after the loss of the colo-

nial market in the 1970s), Sociedade Africana de Pólvora

continued to search for alternatives to ensure its survival

in the European marketplace, submitting its black gun-

powder to certication and the regulatory framework es-

tablished by the European Union directive in eect from

Corresponding to 123,287 horse-power.

Fig. 1. Vale de Milhaços

Gunpowder Factory, aerial view

of Seixal – Documentation

and Information Centre

and Rui Dias, 2018)

Il. 1. Fabryka prochu Vale de

Milhaços, widok z lotu ptaka

of Seixal – Documentation

and Information Centre

and Rui Dias, 2018)

1993 onwards. This certication did ensure that its pro-

ducts would remain on sale into the 21

century.

With the industrial plant factory diagram of 1898, pro-

duction continued through to 2001 with recourse to steam

for the production of the energy necessary to drive the

century equipment.

The heritage on the black gunpowder circuit was rec-

ognised and duly inventoried between 1998 and 2001 by

a scientic and technical team set up by the Seixal Mu-

nicipal Ecomuseum in collaboration with the management

and workers at the factory.

The Ecomuseum is a museum entity established in

1982 under the auspices of Seixal Municipal Council and

has, ever since 1996, worked on a project to inventory and

study the local industrial heritage.

In 2001, the Gunpowder Circuit was attributed to the

Municipal Ecomuseum, as an extension, with the objec-

tive of ensuring the management of the site where Seixal

Municipal Council sought to guarantee the preservation

of the heritage, which includes not only all the production

machinery, equipment and utensils but also the immov-

able heritage, thus over two dozen buildings with varying

and distinctive architectonic and built characteristics.

 ThesafeguardingoftheValedeMilhaçosGunpowderFactory / ZabezpieczeniefabrykiprochuwValedeMilhaços 19

The central set of buildings contains the steam gener-

ating boilers and steam engine. Also still making up part

of this heritage set is the system of teledynamic cables

that ensures the transmission of mechanical energy from

the central building – powered there by the main motor

– over a length of over 500 m, to the various gunpowder

manufacturing workshops: grinding, mixing and sieving,

milling, pressing, corning, sieving and glazing workshops

(Fig. 3).

A Decauville type railway line served for the transport

of products in wagons, which had bronze wheels for rea-

sons of safety and were moved by human labour over a to-

tal distance of over 1100 m.

The nal years of operation and the closure of the facto-

ry represented a crucial phase in the heritagisation process.

The heritage classication of the Black Gunpowder

Circuit was proposed by Seixal Municipal Council to the

competent state entity in 1999. The classication process

came to an end in 2012 with the set classied as a Monu-

ment of Public Interest (13.4 hectares)

Due to vicissitudes and administrative and legal prob-

lems, only in 2007 was Municipal Ecomuseum able to be-

gin its management of the site.

Since 2008, within the scope of municipal services that

include the Ecomuseum, the Black Gunpowder Circuit has

hosted highly diversied cultural initiatives and activities,

This legal protection was equally important from the per spective

of the management and land planning of the council’s territory. In

2015, the Seixal Municipality Directive Plan specically stipulated the

museological utilisation of the cultural heritage made up of the former

Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory and correspondingly attributing

13.4 hectares of the Black Gunpowder Circuit to the category Space of

Special Usage – Equipment and facilities for collective utilisation.

Fig. 2. Vale de Milhaços

Gunpowder Factory,

factory plan, 20

century

of Seixal – Documentation

and Information Centre)

Il. 2. Fabryka prochu Vale de

Milhaços, plan fabryki, XX w.

of Seixal – Documentation

and Information Centre)

20 Graça Filipe

Fig. 4. Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory, the carbonization workshop (© Municipal Ecomuseum of Seixal – Documentation and In for ma tion Centre)

Il. 4. Fabryka prochu Vale de Milhaços, warsztat karbonizacji (© Municipal Ecomuseum of Seixal – Documentation and In for ma tion Centre)

some maintaining the connection with the former em-

ployees and having been attended by thousands of visi tors.

The operational conservation

Heritage conservation is a determinant process for sus-

tainability and spans all of the measures and actions that,

with due respect for the meanings and the physical prop-

erties of such heritage, seek to ensure their safeguarding

while simultaneously maintaining accessibility to present

and future generations.

In the case of technical and industrial heritage, this

prio ritises in situ conservation [3].

The innovative musealisation program of the Black

Gunpowder Circuit of the Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder

Factory correspondingly attributed priority to this option

through the means of an operational conservation pro-

gram or of functional reconstitution. The option was only

made to remove the heritage and carry out conservation

in reserve in extreme cases and in order to guarantee the

safeguarding of objects at risk of loss.

Every Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory object

with recognised heritage value was subject to incorpo-

ration into the museologic collection through means of

documentation, inventorying and conservation at the Mu-

nicipal Ecomuseum of Seixal.

Furthermore, during the industrial period, deactivating

the carbonization workshop involved the deployment of

an in situ heritage conservation program in conjunction

with the functional reconstitution of the carbonization fur-

naces (Fig. 4).

Fig. 3. Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory,

the transmission of mechanical energy by the system

of teledynamic cables

– Documentation and Information Centre)

Il. 3. Fabryka prochu Vale de Milhaços,

system kabli teledynamicznych

do przenoszenia energii mechanicznej

– Documentation and Information Centre)

 ThesafeguardingoftheValedeMilhaçosGunpowderFactory / ZabezpieczeniefabrykiprochuwValedeMilhaços 21

The thermal and steam engines, alongside the set of

ener gy production workshops they fed, were fully inte-

grated into the operational, and therefore in situ, conser-

vation program.

The option for operational conservation led to, in ad-

dition to the request for the cancellation of the industrial

licence, the Sociedade Africana de Pólvora management

submitting a report to the National Police Director, on

18 February 2002, conrming the termination of pro-

duction of black gunpowder at the Vale de Milhaços

Factory while simultaneously requesting authorisation

to main tain the production line in situ on grounds that

high lighted […] how there are future plans for this pro-

duction line to operate but only with the utilisation of

inert materials.

The Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory perimeters,

dened for the purposes of the heritage classication of

the Black Gunpowder Circuit, took into account the via-

bility of any safeguarding plan while applying selection

criteria that considered the historical, industrial and tech-

nological importance, the recognition from the communi-

ty and the potential for valuation. This particularly includ-

ed the topographic characteristics of the 1898 industrial

layout, the uniqueness and longevity of its energy system

and the means of production as well as the active trans-

mission of individual memories and technical knowledge.

The entire production line was subject to a systematic

cleaning and with the removal of any waste materials that

might pose any hazard so as to ensure the opportunity to

begin exclusively engaging in managing the site as a mu-

seum, which took place from 2007 onwards.

The energy generation system, made up of the steam

boiler and the steam engine, constituted one of the core fo-

cuses of the preservation project inherently bound up with

the necessary technical means and the specialist human

resources, in particular the system operators.

The ongoing musealisation project bears special rele-

vance, in conjunction with the legal protection provided

through heritage classication, due to the licencing of the

pressurised equipment (steam boiler and steam engine) in

order to preserve them in an operational state.

Following Seixal Municipal Council having proceed-

ed in 2004, in accordance with the legal norms for pres-

surised industrial equipment, to register the steam boiler

and steam engine as municipal property as part of its mu-

seologic assets, as from 2012 this entity took over guar-

anteeing the renewal of the operational licences of this

equipment that remains subject to industrial safety legis-

lation irrespective of the new museum context of opera-

tional conservation.

Within the scope of renewing the licensing process-

es, a record of the knowledge held by former operators

and employees was set down and then deepened through

bibliographic research carried out by the Ecomuseum’s

science team. This technical and functional characteri-

sation of the thermal and mechanical energy generation

system describes both the maintenance and conservation

actions and the technical practices and knowledge for

safeguarding. This methodology rests on respect for the

procedures that ensure the integrity, authenticity and lon-

gevity of the industrial plant and the techniques and tech-

nical know ledge and practices thereby associated (Fig. 5).

TheJoãoPeresbrandsteamgenerator

The boiler house contains the João Perez made boiler,

manufactured in Portugal and installed in 1911. Through-

out around nine decades, this machine produced the steam

necessary both to power the steam engine and to dry the

gunpowder (with this workshop fed via the steam-duct).

This boiler is currently conserved in an operational sta-

tus and duly licenced for the Municipal Ecomuseum of

Seixal with a 5 bar (rather than the 6.86 bar of the indus-

trial period) capacity and now supplying steam only to the

steam engine.

This is a Cornish type boiler with a capacity of 11.45 m

and a heated surface area of 45 m

able to reach a maxi-

mum service temperature of 170 °C. The boiler is wood

fuel powered.

The boiler structure for generating steam is comple-

mented by various mechanisms for the supply of water,

controlling the pressure and releasing steam.

Fig. 5. Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory,

the João Peres brand steam generator

– Documentation and Information Centre)

Il. 5. Fabryka prochu Vale de Milhaços,

generator pary marki João Peres

– Documentation and Information Centre)

22 Graça Filipe

Fig. 7. Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory,

Francisco Moura lubricating the steam engine

– Documentation and Information Centre)

Il. 7. Fabryka prochu Vale de Milhaços,

Francisco Moura smarujący silnik parowy

– Documentation and Information Centre)

Among the respective boiler maintenance procedures

are the water treatment operations and the cleaning of

both the boiler and the chimney.

Through to the 1970s, the water for the steam gener-

ator was not treated by adding any chemical products,

hence sludges and salts would accumulate over the ex-

tent of the metallic walls and beginning to corrode them.

In order to minimise these destructive processes, small

sheets of zinc were placed around the boiler interior in

order to pulverise the calcium sulphate contained in water

and thereby hinder the formation of incrustations. As zinc

is not eective with all mineral salts nor does it impact on

the organic materials in water, incrustations then ended

up forming and that had to be removed manually from

within the boiler.

From the mid-1970s onwards, the treatment of the

water for the João Peres boiler was altered through the

application of two chemical products designed to ensure

the removal of any accumulated detritus over its interior

surfaces. This boiler water treatment procedure has since

been maintained within the museum context.

As regards cleaning the chimney, while the factory was

in industrial production, this work would take place on

an annual basis and prior to the summer holiday period

thereby removing all of the ashes that had accumulated

over the course of the year. On cleaning day, the workers

would form a group. Three of the members would enter

the chimney ue equipped with a bucket while the other

two would remain outside. A short while later, they would

switch tasks and continuing to do so through to the com-

pletion of this process. The chimney clean ing currently

takes place according to the same procedure (Fig. 6).

TheJosephFarcotbrandsteamengine

The steam engine house contains a Joseph Farcot brand

engine, manufactured in Saint-Ouen (Paris, France) and in-

stalled in 1900. Throughout a century, the engine produced

the driving force necessary to power the Black Gun pow -

der Circuit of the Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory.

Currently, this is operationally conserved so as to enable

demonstrations of the functioning of its steam powered

mechanical energy production and the system for the trans-

mission of movement over distance via teledynamic cables.

The steam engine runs up to 125 CV and with the speed

of the ywheel reaching 75 rotations per minute. The en-

gine falls into the category of horizontal, mono-cylinder

machines composed of a system of steam distribution

valves (Corliss type), for one cylinder or steam receptor,

a lubrication system, a movement transmission system,

a steam entrance regulator (governor) and a condenser.

This is then complemented by a water refrigeration sys-

tem installed in an external tank.

The lubrication of the machinery and the cleaning and

maintenance of the refrigeration tank represent important

maintenance procedures.

This also extends to the operational conservation and

cleaning and maintenance of the refrigeration tank (Fig. 7).

Licensing the functioning

of the boiler and steam engine

The current legal requirements for the renewal of pres-

surised equipment operational licences are legally stipu-

lated

. Based on these legal frameworks, the Ecomuseum

In Portugal, by Dispatch 22332/2001, dated 30 October with the

legal procedures for steam generation licences specically established

by Decree Law no. 90/2010, of 22 July.

Fig. 6. Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory.

The Joseph Farcot brand steam engine

– Documentation and Information Centre)

Il. 6. Fabryka prochu Vale de Milhaços,

silnik parowy marki Joseph Farcot

– Documentation and Information Centre)

 ThesafeguardingoftheValedeMilhaçosGunpowderFactory / ZabezpieczeniefabrykiprochuwValedeMilhaços 23

undertakes the actions necessary to renewing the licences

both for the João Peres boiler and for the Joseph Farcot

steam engine.

The certication and subsequent licence renewal pro-

cedures for this machinery and its activities were duly

identied and constitute essential dimensions to overall

operational conservation for purposes of demonstrating

the functioning of the pressurised equipment.

This process is submitted to the Instituto Português da

Qualidade and correspondingly requesting an inspection.

The boiler inspection undertaken by a competent exter-

nal organism (currently the Instituto da Soldadura e Qua-

lidade) includes the testing of the hydraulic pressure and

the verication of the inner cylinder through direct obser-

vation and testing the steam pressure.

In relation to the process of renewing the authorisation

for the boiler to operate, this involves the testing of both

the pressure and the boiler safety valve by an authorised

inspector who, after having conrmed the equipment

meets the requirements, drafts a report that is then submit-

ted to the licensing service.

Having conrmed the good operational conditions of

the steam generator, an inspection was made of the steam

engine and it thus proved possible to obtain the renewal

of its licence, the rst for a museum context in Portugal,

by the same public entity (Instituto Português da Quali-

dade)

The pressure gauge – the instrument measuring the

build-up of steam – installed and functional in the boiler

belongs to the Wika brand and also receives a certicate

of periodic inspection (issued by the TAP Laboratory)

The authorisation for the operating of the Joseph Far-

cot brand steam engine, built in 1900 (thus not attributed

any construction certicate) and with its nominal poten-

tial of 125 cavalos vapor equivalent to around 92 Kw,

falls under the auspices of Decree Law no. 61/2009, of

9 March.

The operating rate for which the João Perez steam

generator is authorised is 5-bar taking into consideration

the demonstration purpose of the motor system in the

Gunpowder Circuit and given that the steam machine is

correspondingly no longer used under a production re-

gime.

Following the same legal practice in eect for indus-

trial plant and equipment, the two operating licences are

axed to the buildings housing the boiler and the machine

and thus fully available for observation by the users and

visitors of the Seixal Municipal Ecomuseum.

In 2015 and 2016, with the updating of the legal and administrative

framework stemming from the new Organic Law for the Ministry of the

Economy, enacted in 2014 (Decree Law 11/2014, of 22 January), the

entity responsible for the industrial licensing of pressurised equipment

became the Portuguese Institute of Quality. This was thus the entity that

received the request to renew the boiler licence in 2016 and 2018 and the

steam engine in 2017.

The metrological verication conditions and the issuing of certi-

cate for this equipment, required by the licence for steam generation

arises from Decree Law no. 291/90 of 20 September, Decree no.

422/98 of 21 July and Dispatch no 1173/2015 (with the latter valid until

31 December 2017) but which remains applicable.

We would note that periodic pressure testing represents

a potentially destructive operation in keeping with its

design and goal of revealing any defects existing in the

equipment and in itself representing a process of worsen-

ing or creating defects in the boiler. Hence, irrespective of

such testing being a legal requirement for monitoring the

prevailing safety conditions, it should be our objective to

minimise such recourse while simultaneously maintain-

ing all of the conservation procedures and tests that are

non-destructive to the safety conditions.

The inspections undertaken for the Vale de Milhaços

Gunpowder Factory sought to reconcile the operational

conservation with the principle of minimum intervention

out of respect for the historical background of these ob-

jects, especially the alterations they have been subject to

over the course of time whenever such do not constitute

factors of degradation and corrosion and in addition to the

reversibility, stability and compatibility of the materials

applied in relation to those already existing.

Conclusions

While we understand the added value that operational

conservation does also bring to heritage in terms of its

interpretation and mediation, we are nevertheless aware of

the technical and human limitations this presents.

The musealisation project has hitherto been able to

source machine operators from among the former factory

workers, whether through professionally allocating them

to the Seixal Municipal Ecomuseum team or through vol-

untary collaborations. However, we have not yet been

able to train any new operators.

Our experience tells us of the need to always have

a “plan B” available, evaluating the sustainability of the

project for safeguarding and the model for managing the

heritage on the Black Gunpowder Circuit of the Vale de

Milhaços Gunpowder Factory due for implementation

over forthcoming years.

Establishing partnerships with universities and research -

ers can develop new studies on the industrial heritage,

in a multidisciplinary scientic perspective. This is the

case of the current project IH4Future – Material Culture,

ScienticCulture:industrialheritageforthefuture where

researchers from Historical, Museological, Material and

Conservation sciences consider the scientic study of the

Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory, namely the mate-

rial characterisation of an important part of the integrated

heritage using dierent analytical techniques. These stud-

ies will contribute to assessing the conservation state and

to the musealisation process of the Gunpowder Circuit,

with scientic-based knowledge on the industry history

and technological development.

We are aware of the temporal limits on the process that

began with the Gunpowder Circuit and it remains our ob-

jective to ensure an alternative plan for its in situ conser-

vation. We nevertheless know that the technological value

of the Vale de Milhaços heritage is strengthened by its

operational conservation and that any other alternatives

would hold repercussions impacting on the level of recog-

nition attributed by its visitors and beneciaries.

24 Graça Filipe

Abstract

The subject of the article is the black powder factory in Vale de Milhaços in Portugal as an example of the protection of post-industrial heritage.

Shown the process of transforming an active production facility into a museum. The steam powered production of black gunpowder in Vale de Mil-

haços began in 1896 using an innovative system for transmitting mechanical energy over distance by interconnecting the central power generation

building with transmission houses for eight sets of production workshops. Steam powered production continued through to 2001 when the Black

Gunpowder Circuit became an extension of the Seixal Municipal Ecomuseum under the management of the Seixal Municipality. This aimed to

guarantee the preservation of the heritage, including the buildings, production machinery, equipment and utensils. Importantly the heritage was con-

served in situ with operational steam-powered energy production, using expertise from past workers at the factory. This required multiple technical,

administrative and heritage management procedures including heritage classication; registering of the pressurised industrial equipment; renewal of

the licenses for such equipment with the respective economic and industrial public authorities (despite being industrially deactivated); contracting

operators for their appropriate conservation within a museological context; and eliminating all black powder from the buildings and surrounding

areas. Partnerships with universities and researchers were also developed, including the current project IH4Future – Material Culture, Scientic

Culture: industrial heritage for the future under which researchers from historical, museological, material and conservation sciences are undertaking

the material characterisation of the heritage on the site using multiple analytical techniques. These studies will provide knowledge on the industry

history and technological development of the Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory that will assist in its conservation and development as a museum.

Key words: Vale de Milhaços Gunpowder Factory, industrial heritage, steam generation, steam engine, operational conservation

Streszczenie

Tematem artykułu jest fabryka czarnego prochu w Vale de Milhaços w Portugalii jako przykład ochrony dziedzictwa postindustrialnego. Ukazano

proces przekształcenia czynnego zakładu produkcyjnego w muzeum. Produkcja za pomocą maszyn parowych rozpoczęła się tam w 1896 r. Wy-

korzystywano innowacyjny system do przesyłania energii mechanicznej na odległość przez połączenie budynku centralnej siłowni wałami prze-

syłowymi do ośmiu warsztatów produkcyjnych. Produkcja zasilana parą trwała do 2001 r., kiedy Black Gunpowder Circuit wszedł w skład Seixal

Municipal Ecomuseum pod zarządem gminy Seixal. Miało to na celu zachowanie dziedzictwa technicznego, w tym budynków, maszyn produkcyj-

nych, wyposażenia i narzędzi dawnej fabryki. Co ważne, zakład został zachowany na miejscu wraz z działającą maszyną parową obsługiwaną przy

wykorzystaniu wiedzy fachowej pracowników fabryki. Wymagało to wielu procedur technicznych, administracyjnych i zarządzania dziedzictwem,

w tym klasykacji dziedzictwa, zezwoleń dotyczących urządzeń ciśnieniowych i urządzeń przemysłowych (odnowienie licencji na takie urządzenia

uzgodnione z odpowiednimi organami administracji publicznej i gospodarki). W celu realizacji projektu rozwijano również partnerstwo z uniwersy-

tetami i badaczami, w tym w ramach projektu IH4Future – Kultura materialna, kultura naukowa: dziedzictwo przemysłowe w przyszłości, w którego

ramach specjaliści: historycy, muzealnicy, i konserwatorzy zbadali materialne zasoby dziedzictwa na terenie byłej fabryki, stosując wiele technik

analitycznych. Badania te dostarczyły wiedzy na temat historii przemysłu i rozwoju technologicznego fabryki prochu Vale de Milhaços, która to

wspiera jej konserwację i rozwój jako muzeum.

Słowa kluczowe: Vale de Milhaços, fabryka prochu, dziedzictwo przemysłowe, produkcja pary, silnik parowy, konserwacja operacyjna

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