Évora, Portugal, July 21, 2026 (Lusa) - Parliament has recommended that the government adopt urgent measures for the study, conservation and enhancement of the Anta Grande do Zambujeiro (Great Dolmen), the largest of its kind on the Iberian Peninsula, situated in the municipality of Évora.
This recommendation, published in the Diário da República on Tuesday, resulted from a consensus reached on the draft resolutions on 25 June.
According to the recommendation, parliament wants the government to «promote, as a matter of urgency, the funding and implementation of an integrated plan for safeguarding, enhancing and promoting» the dolmen and its associated burial mound.
The «necessary human, technical and financial resources» must be ensured to carry out the plan, which has four main vectors: an archaeological study; a review of the legal framework for protection; conservation and restoration; and enhancement and public access, it states.
Parliament calls, as a matter of priority, for «a comprehensive and up-to-date technical survey of the state of conservation» of the dolmen, including the structural stability of the buttresses, the burial chamber and the access corridor.
This work, as stated in the recommendation, should be carried out in collaboration with the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) and the Archaeosciences Laboratory (LARC), and through partnerships with institutions such as the University of Évora.
Based on this assessment, the government must ensure that an integrated and phased intervention plan is drawn up and implemented within six months, including measures for structural consolidation, control of erosion of the burial mound, and mitigation of the risk of collapse, amongst others.
In the document, parliament also calls for public funding for the conservation and study of the excavated archaeological finds, the carrying out of further archaeological work, amongst other actions.
Another of the MPs' recommendations is to carry out a study on the feasibility of the public acquisition of the ‘dolmen' and the surrounding area, by agreement with the owner, without resorting to expropriation.
As for public enjoyment of the site, parliament suggests developing a strategy to promote the Dolmen and raise awareness, and to create «conditions for qualified, safe and informed access to the monument».
Interventions are requested regarding access routes and the surrounding area; the installation of interpretative spaces; appropriate signage; surveillance and protection systems; and the creation of controlled visitor routes and heritage education programmes.
Among other measures, parliament also calls for the integration of the Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro into the strategies associated with Évora 2027 – European Capital of Culture and into national programmes for the promotion of megalithic culture.
Situated on private land, just over ten kilometres from Évora, the Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro, whose construction dates back to between the early 4th and mid-3rd millennium BC, is a large funerary monument and has been classified as a National Monument since 1971.
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