The main objective of the NAPOCTEP - Napoleonic Routes of Spain and Portugal project, developed under the Interreg V-A Spain - Portugal Program (POCTEP), was to create cross-border tourist-cultural routes around the theme of the French Invasions and the figure of Napoleon, seeking to transform the heritage of this historical period in a sustainable tourist product that generates wealth and employment in the regions of Castile and Leon and in Central Portugal.
Executed by a consortium of Portuguese and Spanish partners, which includes the Historical Route of the Lines of Torres Vedras, the Intermunicipal Community of the Coimbra Region, the Intermunicipal Community of the Beiras and Serra da Estrela, Tourism in Central Portugal, the Fundación Siglo for el Turismo y las Arts de Castilla y León, Fundación Santa Maria la Real del Patrimonio Historico, Fundación Finnova and Sociedad Mercantil Estatal para la Gestión de la Innovación y las Tecnologías Turísticas, the NAPOCTEP project brought with it several challenges, in particular those of cross-border cooperation, economic development, sustainable tourism and environmental development.
Within the scope of the Thematic Network of the French Invasions in Portugal project, supported by Turismo de Portugal’s Support Line for Tourism in the Interior, the board game “Napoleão Bonaparte: the beginning of the end”, developed in partnership with the company Science4you, was publicly presented in November 2021.
As a game with the STEAM seal, its concept is to "learn while playing", through soft skills that make this product, more than a game about History, a platform for accessing a set of broad skills that includes Heritage and Culture, citizenship, sustainable development goals, the Arts and Mathematics.
The concept was conceived, not from the point of view of imperialisms and conquests, but of the resistance of a people and the defence of a territory. From the theme of war, it intends to build peace, at the same time as it stimulates the visitation of the heritage associated with the French Invasions, in a territory that covers thirteen municipalities.
The game is aimed at both families and schools and can be purchased, among other places, at the six Interpretation Centres on the Lines of Torres Vedras.
This project is being implemented by a consortium composed of the Intermunicipal Community of the Coimbra Region and thirteen municipalities, including six on the Historical Route of the Lines of Torres. Other resources are expected to become available soon.
Within the scope of the Community and Sustainable Tourism project, approved by the Support Line for the Enhancement of Sustainable Tourism of Turismo de Portugal, of which RHLT is a promoter, interventions were carried out in the forts of the Lines of Torres Vedras and in the Interpretation Centre of the Lines of Torres Vedras of Sobral de Monte Agraço. Six tactile models were also created that respond to the purpose of reinforcing the work with schools, namely with special education, but also to help the blind public, or with some intellectual disability, in the process of apprehending the contents related to the Lines of Torres Vedras, so that everyone may know and enjoy this heritage.
Six copies are available, one for each Interpretation Centre, reproducing, to scale and with architectural details, six different forts. The terrain's orography is used in order to make it possible to understand and locate, using tactile perception, the various spaces of each monument-site.
Aware that much remains to be done to make this heritage more accessible, we continue to work towards making more and more inclusive tools and events available.
