Santos Rocha Municipal Museum | Novembro 24, 2023

The Santos Rocha Municipal Museum in Figueira da Foz participated in the celebrations of the Scientific Culture Day 2023, promoting a guided tour to its ethnographic collections.

Founded in 1894 by António dos Santos Rocha, the Santos Rocha Municipal Museum has gone through several periods, taking into account the work carried out and the museological criteria that have governed its successive reinstallations in different physical spaces. In 1975, it opened in the building where it is today. Built with the technical and financial support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, it was designed by the Figueiran architect Isaías Cardoso.

The Municipal Museum followed international models of organization and scientific dissemination, keeping up with the best national scientific institutions. For this reason, it has built up and preserved a remarkable ethnographic collection.

This visit discussed the results of the TRANSMAT project’s research, highlighting the biographies of objects from Brazil, Timor, Angola and Mozambique. How did they arrive in Portugal and when? Who collected them and why? In what contexts were they moved from their places of origin? How were they included in the various stages of the museum’s existence? What values and meanings have they taken on over time? What methodology do we use to learn about their journey and identify their collection and provenance contexts? These are some of the issues that were addressed on this guided tour of one of Portugal’s most interesting museums!

See more information here:  https://www.cienciaviva.pt/semanact/2023/