Two monuments, various discourses on cultural identity and memory in Portugal: “Caldas da Rainha” thermal hospital and Santa Maria de Vitoria (Batalha) monastery

Abstract

It is the author’s intention in this paper to show how two Portuguese monuments are appropriated by social actors as a means to claim their multiple identities in a globalised world. Having the same territorial unit as a basis for discussion, and using different strategies to reach similar goals, social actors appeal to different historic memories in order to affirm a division in two different cultural areas, Region of Leiria and Region Oeste, in a clear defiance to the modern logic of territorial division.