"The new project is the Pedra Cathedral, in Brazil. This is my biggest challenge. I'd rather make four Vatican cathedrals than this one", said the 78-year-old craftsman to the Lusa agency. In the village of Carrica, in the municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar, district of Vila Real, Guilhermino Rodrigues has the workshop where he brings his art form to life, using different types of wood, and a small space that he calls "Replica Museum of the Cathedrals of Europe and America". Inside his museum, he keeps the Sagrada Família (Barcelona, Spain), the Basilica of Saint Peter (Vatican), the cathedrals of Saint Patrick (New York, United States of America), Notre-Dame (Paris, France), Milan (Italy), Quito (Ecuador), Cologne (Germany), Christ the Redeemer (Brazil) and the Batalha Monastery, his first project. The craftsman hopes to see the project of the municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar for the construction of a museum space next door, next to the National Road 2 (EN2), where his works of art can be exhibited. He replicates these international monuments using photographs of the buildings and models, without ever having seen them in person. "So far, I've never seen any of them live", he said, confessing that he would like to visit the Sagrada Família and even improve some details in his replica. He also created a church of his own design and recreated the local church of Telões. Doing "the most difficult and complicated things" is what motivates and challenges him, and that is why Guilhermino Rodrigues is now focusing on the Pedra Cathedral. "This architecture is totally different, it's almost like making two cathedrals, I make one and then I have to cover it, but the work has to be done in parts", he said. It's like a kind of puzzle. The craftsman is building pieces that he will then assemble until he completes the religious temple that is known for the different colors of stone with which its facades were built. To replicate it, Guilhermino is using wood of different colors and said that he has already made "about 200 thousand pieces" that he will now glue together to bring the religious temple to life. In the workshop, there are scattered wood and equipment that he uses such as a band saw, a lathe, a sander or a clamp. The work is made difficult by the rheumatoid arthritis (a rheumatic disease that mainly affects the joints) that was diagnosed when he was 50 years old and that affected his hands, but that does not prevent him from working. "I can't stand still", he confessed to Lusa. After a life dedicated to work, whether in wood or stone, to the construction or restoration of churches and chapels, in 2011 he heard his brother-in-law say that he had seen a small replica of the Batalha Monastery on television and decided that he would make a bigger one. "The Batalha Monastery took 36 days to make and has a lot of lacework", he said. In addition to the facades of the buildings, roofs, towers and domes, the craftsman also makes the interior of the religious temples, such as the altars, naves, arches and their lighting. Guilhermino Rodrigues is part of the Rota dos Artesãos, a project promoted by the Development Association of the Alto Tâmega Region (ADRAT), which aims to be a "tribute to the creative hands that, over decades, have been shaping and preserving the cultural identity of the territory". ADRAT stressed, when presenting the initiative in April, that "craftsmanship is a living testimony to the evolution of human ingenuity over the centuries" and that Alto Tâmega and Barroso "are rich in artisanal expressions". The project, which is under construction, already includes artisans from different municipalities in this territory of the district of Vila Real. Read Also: Lithium. The fight of Covas do Barroso reaches Cannes in a film by Paulo Carneiro (Portuguese version)