| Summary: | The border between Spain and Portugal is a vast cultural space of great heritage interest, characterized by the existence of historically shared traditions and social practices. This article analyses, in the geographical context of two clearly delimited territories in the Spanish-Portuguese north-eastern stripe (the “Meseta Ibérica” and “Gerês-Xurés” Transfrontier Biosphere Reserves), two museological spaces included within a broader inventory: the Mixed Couto Interpretation Centre and the Touro House. These cases are chosen because they constitute institutional projects that respond to territorial heritage processes around community customs and historical self-government practices that took place in this border area, between Tras-Os-Montes (Portugal), Zamora and Ourense. (Spain). The objective of this paper is to highlight the social function of small local museums on the border and propose new relationships with their cultural heritage. We use qualitative methodology, carrying out field visits and informal interviews, to learn about the processes and difficulties of these projects. From the case studies, a desire of the inhabitants of small towns to safeguard and disseminate their social memory emerges; However, we identify a lack of cultural and pedagogical action that relates these heritages to contemporary problems. To conclude, we propose possible lines of action from which to generate critical approaches to heritage that allow us to imagine more sustainable and solidary futures.
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