A Casa da Missão
An old property located at the final of Rua do Canto, parish of Capelo, 1.5km from Capelinhos Lighthouse. The property, which belonged to the family of Mr. Tomás Vargas from the early twentieth century until 1988, has a strong historical connection with the Capelinhos Volcano and had a pivotal social role within the life of the parish.
After a long period of neglect, in 2017 it was bought by the current owners Gonçalo Tocha (film director) and Sophie Barbara (producer). During the renovation process they were informed by Juan da Cruz (one of the previous house owner) and by some members of the community that the house had housed the Cientific Mission that studied the Capelinhos eruption. They decided to investigate and obtain evidence.
In September 1957 a new direction for the house would be revealed thanks to the eruption of the Capelinhos Volcano, the most extraordinary volcanological phenomenon witnessed in the world at that time. The Capelinhos Volcano was the first underwater volcano in the world to be able to be observed and studied continuously, during the 13 months of eruption, due to its location near the coast. For the first time in the world, a natural phenomenon of this dimension could be observed continuously and safely.
When the volcano erupted, the original owners of the house, the family of Mr. Tomás Vargas, temporarily ceded this house to the authorities. The Governor of the time, Dr Freitas Pimentel, decided that this house would house the scientific missions of observation and study of the Capelinhos volcano.
The house had the conditions and the adequate dimensions that allowed to lodge the work teams and to install the measuring and communication devices for the study of the eruption and also had a privileged location as observation point to the Porto do Comprido, the lighthouse and the Capelinhos volcano.
The privileged location of the house with its observation point over the volcano was much more than a viewpoint, it became a true social meeting point for the parish and the island of Faial.
The house was a reference point for the inhabitants and all the visitors who wanted to observe the eruption of the volcano up close but with some safety. People gathered in front of the house in a small belvedere on the other side of the road, as shown in the black and white image taken from the RTP archives.
Portugal's First Volcanological Observatory
As soon as the news of the eruption of the Capelinhos volcano appeared on 27th September 1957, the scientific mission was prepared in Lisbon by Assistant Professor Raquel Soeiro de Brito and Professor Orlando Ribeiro in a fast and express way in only 4 days. On October 5, 1957 the scientific mission of the Centre for Geographical Studies of the University of Lisbon arrived in Faial and stayed at the house of Tomás Vargas in Canto do Capelo for two periods of 1 month each.
They brought little with them to this residence, some very rudimentary instruments of analysis, thermometers that only supported 300 degrees, small manometers, notebooks, pens, cameras and film cameras. They would go on foot to observe the phenomenon, film and photograph it from the slopes of the volcano or from the cistern of the house and on the days of great explosions of ash that covered the sky with a black mantle, they would take refuge behind the windows of the house where they made their notes, day and night.
Raquel Soeiro de Brito and Orlando Ribeiro in fieldwork during the Capelinhos eruption (1957, 58)
