in Póvoa de Varzim bullring. Another two museums are due to open: Casa do Pescador (Fisherman home) and Farol de Regufe (Regufe lighthouse). Small art galleries housing contemporary works of art are located in Casino da Póvoa, which exhibits paintings from some of the finest Portuguese artists, and the Ortopóvoa Art Gallery, bordering the Municipal Museum. An arts cooperative created in 1935, A Filantrópica has as its purpose the execution of cultural activities and inducement to artistic creation. The Rates Ecomuseum is a historical and countryside route, with various stops starting on the Praça (the Square) with the Senhor da Praça baroque chapel, the Rates pillory and the old Rates township house, and primordial springs, wind and water mills, rustic ways and houses. The Arquivo Municipal is the city's archive planned for those who are interested in tracing their family pedigree chart or scrutinize the city's records. Ethnography The culture of Póvoa de Varzim derives from different working classes and with influences arriving from the maritime route from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean. The docudrama film Ala-Arriba! by José Leitão de Barros, popularized this unique Portuguese fishing community within the country during the 1940s. The local expression ala-arriba means "go upwards" and it represents the co-operation between the inhabitants. Siglas Poveiras are a form of proto-writing system, with a restricted number of symbols that were combined to form more complex symbols; these were used as a rudimentary visual communication system, and as a signature to mark belongings. Merchants wrote them in their books of credit; fishermen used it in religious rituals by marking them in the door of Catholic chapels near hills or beaches; in the table of the church during marriage and in their tombstone; and also had magical significance, such as the São Selimão sigla, that could be used as a protecting symbol and not as family mark. Children used the same family mark with piques as a form of cadency. The youngest son would not have any pique and would inherit his father's symbol. The siglas are still used, though much less commonly, by some families; and are related with Viking traditions. The Poveiro is a specific genre of boat characterized by a wide flat-bottom and a deep helm. There were diverse boats with different sizes, uses and shapes. The most notable of which, the Lancha Poveira, was believed to be derived from the Drakkar Viking,