Description of the attraction
Barcelos is a small town famous for its pottery, located on the right bank of the Cavadu River. It was from this place that the Portuguese kingdom began, and also here the legend of the Barcelos cockerel was born. This legend says that in the 13th century, a pilgrim stopped in Barcelos for the night. On leaving the city he was seized, unjustly accused of theft, and sentenced to death. They promised to pardon him if he can prove his innocence. The pilgrim saw that the judge was about to dine on a roast rooster, and said that the rooster would come to life and crow. The rooster really came to life, to everyone's surprise, and crowed. Since then, brightly painted ceramic cockerels have been sold throughout Portugal and are a symbol of good luck. The pilgrim went on a journey, and on his return to the city carved out of wood the "Senora Rooster", which can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Barcelos.
The open-air archaeological museum is located in the old palace of the Counts of Barcelos, next to the parish church. The museum was opened in 1920. Among the exhibits of the museum you can see stone products and sculptures from the Romanesque period to the Middle Ages. It is also interesting that the museum presents tombstones with religious symbols of different peoples who lived here: Celtic and Catholic crosses, the Jewish Star of David, five-pointed Islamic pentagrams. The most famous exhibit in the museum is the Rooster's Cross, Cruzeiro do Senor do Galo, which tells the story of the creation of the city's emblem.
