In the first edition, in 2024, under the theme Contemporary Jewellery and curated by Inês Nunes, the artistic community is challenged to develop creative and innovative proposals for contemporary jewellery in close relation to selected works from the Museum’s collection. The result of these participations will then be presented in an annual exhibition that will demonstrate the affinities between the Museum’s piece and the creations of the various artists.

Rui Lopes Ferreira, CEO of the Super Bock Group, said: “Supporting culture and the arts is a strong commitment of the Super Bock Group, one that we have had for many years, certain of its importance for the development of stronger and more prosperous societies. We do this by favouring close relationships that benefit the communities in which we operate, the quality of the projects themselves and the credibility of the institutions responsible for them.”

For António Ponte, Director of the Soares dos Reis National Museum, this project consolidates the strategic action of activating the Museum’s relationship with its ‘Neighbours’, closing the proximity perimeter: “After the partnership actions already carried out with the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Santo António (Santo António Hospital, Centro Materno Infantil do Norte Albino Aroso and Centro Integrado de Cirurgia de Ambulatório), as well as with ICBAS – Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, the ‘Affinities’ project will make it possible to strengthen the connection to the Bombarda Quarter, energising and stimulating the creativity of the artists installed there around the collections that make up the Soares dos Reis National Museum’s holdings.”

The Siza Baroque programme will run throughout the year with the participation of the project’s researchers and their consultants. It also includes an exhibition at the Soares dos Reis National Museum and a closing concert, with a ‘baroque-contemporary’ composition (like Siza’s work), at the Clérigos Church in Porto.

For Álvaro Siza, “architecture is continuity and transformation. Starting with thought and gaze, with the material that comes from the pencil, it combines an attempt to understand our universe from a small partial order, in order to improve it later.

The idea of the project as continuity calls for an understanding that the project is linked to events that took place before and will continue long afterwards. The architect designs between times, merges his gestures with the environment, accommodating them, always aspiring for his projects to qualify places.

This continuity between the project and the place, which is born when the drawing begins to decipher its keys, can be extended to the continuity of the drawing itself, from the first visit to the place to the construction process, to this continuous drawing and, in reciprocity, to the hand that moves as the earth would like to move with the projects. In a reflection written about Aalto, Siza indicated that we should “include everything in the drawing”, “take everything as a stimulus”, alluding to the desire for everything to eventually find its place in the project”.

“Siza and Picasso” @Photography by Fernando Guerra

Scientific Research and Technological Development Project on the Architecture of Álvaro Siza Vieira FCT: SIZA/CPT/0021/2019

Funded by:

Foundation for Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education; Ministry of Culture; Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto; Centre for Architecture and Urbanism Studies.

Supported by:

Soares dos Reis National Museum; Serralves Foundation; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; CCA; Drawing Matter; Casa da Arquitectura; Marques da Silva Foundation, Irmandade dos Clérigos and Conservatório de Música do Porto.

José Malhoa divided his life between Lisbon and Figueiró dos Vinhos, where he lived in a house better known as cocoon of Malhoa.

Disapproved twice for the State scholarship in Paris, he temporarily abandoned painting until, in 1881, the painting A Seara Invadida em Madrid (The Invaded Harvest in Madrid) gained him critical appreciation.

As one of the founders of Grupo do Leão, he joined the Naturalist movement generated around Silva Porto. He exhibited at the Sociedade Promotora de Belas-Artes (1880, 1884, 1887), the Grupo do Leão (1881 to 1889), the Grémio Artístico (1891 to 1899) and, since 1901, he was a regular presence in the salons of the National Society of Fine Arts. He received the Medal of Honor (1903) and several First Medals from this Society and was elected its President in 1918.

Image
Self-portrait of José Malhoa (1928) @Museu José Malhoa

This group included the art critic Fernando Pernes and the curator Etheline Rosas who, from 1976, directed the activities of the Contemporary Art Centre.

In four years, various cultural activities were organised and around 100 exhibitions were presented, including important retrospective exhibitions by artists such as António Pedro, Júlio dos Reis Pereira, Augusto Gomes, Júlio Resende, Alberto Carneiro and Ângelo de Sousa.

Photo credits @Manuel Magalhães

In Paris, until 1870, he attended the Imperial School of Fine Arts and the lessons of Professor François Jouffroy (1806-1882). In 1872, he returned to Portugal because of the Franco-Prussian War, after joining a student battalion. From Lisbon he travelled to Rome, where he came into contact with various sculpture collections and met António Soares dos Reis.

Soares dos Reis is also the author of the Portrait of Simões de Almeida (pictured), which belongs to the collection of the Soares dos Reis National Museum. This medallion was cast in bronze in 1940 by the Centenary Executive Committee, reproducing the original plaster model dated 1884.

Simões de Almeida taught drawing and sculpture at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts for 31 years, where he trained several generations of artists. He was also acting director of the National Museum of Ancient Art between 9 March and 5 July 1905.

Source: PEREIRA, José Fernandes (dir.) – Dicionário de escultura portuguesa. Lisbon : Caminho, 2005.

This 26th issue of Revista MVSEV features a series of articles on different historical periods, with the main emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. We highlight the articles “Soares dos Reis National Museum – 190 years and the moment of renewal. The curatorship of a long-term exhibition as an integral strategy for the Museum”, written by the Director of the Soares dos Reis National Museum, António Ponte, and “A pair of incense burner form Miragaia Factory. Note on a donation to the Soares dos Reis National Museum”, by José da Costa Reis, Collection Manager at the Museum.

With a total of 294 pages, the magazine also includes articles by Luís Cabral, Mário Bruno Pastor, Maria de São José Pinto Leite and Joana Andresen Guedes, among others.

The painter António Carneiro is one of the biggest names in painting and drawing in Portugal and is represented in the collection of the Soares dos Reis National Museum.

Last year, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth, the Soares dos Reis National Museum (in partnership with the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto) dedicated a temporary exhibition to him.

Part of the collaborative travelling project Outros lugares (Other Places), the temporary exhibition Desenhos de António Carneiro para o Inferno de Dante (Drawings by António Carneiro for Dante’s Inferno ) was shown at Casa dos Livros, a newly created space in the city of Porto, and more recently at the Lionesa Business Hub.

Forty-two drawings by António Carneiro, which are in the Soares dos Reis National Museum and reveal the best of his talent as a visionary poet, were produced to illustrate Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy Inferno.

Painter, professor at the Porto School of Fine Arts, artistic director of the magazine Águia and linked to the Portuguese Renaissance movement, António Teixeira Carneiro was a notable figure in northern culture. He was born in 1872 in Amarante and died in 1930 in Porto.

He was a disciple of Soares dos Reis and Marques de Oliveira at the Academia Portuense de Belas-Artes.

Image Credits: @Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis (433 Pin Dep/ MNSR)

The study will be presented by Hermano Rodrigues, principal of EY – Parthenon, followed by a round table discussion with Pedro Sousa Rodrigues, advisor to the board of directors of AICEP (Portuguese Trade & Investment Agency), the general director of APICCAPS (Portuguese Association of Footwear, Components, Leather Goods and Leather Goods Manufacturers), João Maia, and the director of UPTEC (Business and Innovation Hub), Maria Moura Oliveira.

Created by InvestPorto, Porto Leading Investors is an investment project management programme dedicated to investors and companies with a high strategic interest and impact on Porto’s economy.

Porto’s strategy for attracting foreign direct investment has been recognised for three consecutive years by the Financial Times’ fDi Intelligence magazine, which ranks the city among the top European Cities and Regions of the Future.

Credits: Porto City Council

In 2024, the theme will be contemporary jewellery, with the artist Inês Nunes as Curator. The active artistic community will thus be called upon to develop creative and innovative proposals for contemporary jewellery in close relation to selected artworks from the Soares dos Reis National Museum’s collection. The result of these participations will then be presented in an annual exhibition that demonstrates the “affinities” between the objects in the Museum and the creations of the various artists, which will include a parallel programme of talks and workshops related to the theme.

The project is being developed by the Soares dos Reis National Museum in partnership with Porto Art District, with the patronage support of the Super Bock Group, as well as the support of the Dr José de Figueiredo Group – Friends of the Soares dos Reis National Museum.

Soares dos Reis National Museum

The Soares dos Reis National Museum has its origins in the Museum of Paintings and Prints and other Fine Arts objects, created in 1833 by King Pedro IV of Portugal. Known as the Museu Portuense, it was housed in the extinct Santo António da Cidade Convent, in Praça de S. Lázaro.

In 1839, it passed to the management of the Academia Portuense de Belas Artes and, with the proclamation of the Republic, was renamed the Soares dos Reis Museum in memory of one of the most outstanding names in Portuguese art.

In 1932, it was renamed the National Museum and, in 1940, the museum was installed in the Carrancas Palace, where it still remains.

Porto Art District

Porto Art District is an association for the local development of the area known as Bombarda, in Porto. Its mission is to coordinate the actions of the local community and the sharing of resources to improve life in this quarter, ensuring the combination of its many dimensions: Social, Cultural, Environmental, Urban and Economic.

For nearly three decades, the Porto Art District has been an epicentre of business and creatives, boosted by the concentration of contemporary art galleries. Bombarda is currently home to more than 178 establishments in the areas of commerce, media and leisure services, culture and entertainment.

Inês Nunes

Inês Nunes, 1979. Portuguese, lives and works in Lisbon. Artist and teacher. Graduated in Psychological Sciences – Ispa. She completed the Jewellery Course, the Advanced Plastic Arts Course – Ar.Co, where she was a student, scholarship holder and teacher in the Jewellery Department, the Artistic Training Course in Drawing – National Society of Fine Arts. She studied Textile Art and Design at the António Arroio Art School and is a lecturer on the Artistic Production, Design and Technology Course – Jewellery Specialisation.
Nationally and internationally, she develops her artistic work in the areas of Art, Design, Art Psychology and Fashion. She has always collaborated actively in numerous events, actions and projects linked to her activities – From Pedagogy to Exhibitions. Through the invitations and challenges presented to her, she takes part in specific collaborations with both individuals and companies. She provides consultancy and management services for artistic projects and has been invited to give talks and presentations on her work, in which she experiments and explores her expressive knowledge of contemporary jewellery as a multidisciplinary and artistic area.

The building was the scene of major events in the city in the first half of the 19th century, such as the French Invasions and the Siege of Porto, and from 1861 it was the residence of the royal family in Porto.

The Carrancas Palace began to be built in 1795 as the home and factory of the Moraes e Castro family, owners of the Gold and Silver Yarn Factory, in Rua dos Carrancas. The Palace’s name dates back precisely to the former location of this wealthy Porto business family.

Although it has been reused in different ways over the years, the original design remains the same, and does not stray too far from the original project, attributed to Joaquim da Costa Lima Sampaio. The Palácio dos Carrancas is part of the neoclassical trend that would mark Porto’s civil architecture at the end of the 18th century with the construction of the Hospital de Santo António, progressing significantly into the 19th century with buildings such as the Alfândega Nova, among others.

International Monuments and Sites Day was created by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) on 18 April 1982, and approved by UNESCO the following year, with the aim of raising awareness of the diversity and vulnerability of heritage, as well as the need for its protection and enhancement.

By celebrating our national heritage, we are also commemorating international solidarity around the knowledge, safeguarding and valorisation of heritage around the world.

In 2024, the theme proposed by ICOMOS International is “Disasters and conflicts in the light of the Venice Charter”, which proposes a look at the past, as a way of reflecting on shared heritage and the challenges facing us today and in the future.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum seeks to provide opportunities for new readings and new narratives, always valuing the cultural heritage it integrates and honouring the history to which it is heir.

The renewed long-term exhibition thus provides an overview of the Soares dos Reis National Museum in a narrative journey that intertwines with its history and the way the collections have been integrated, as well as with the artists represented here and their artworks.

Since its reopening, the Soares dos Reis National Museum has totalled around 86,000 visitors (60% national and 40% foreign), promoted eight temporary exhibitions and held around 700 mediation activities (visits, workshops, commented sessions, among others).

The Soares dos Reis National Museum is a leading cultural and artistic institution with an international collection, and a strategic action is underway to affirm the Museum as a place for constructing meaning from its collections, a place of belonging and identity, promoting reflection, creativity and contemporary critical thinking.

The Museum’s approach to the community has been consolidated through partnerships with external entities that are part of the cultural and social fabric of the city of Porto, allowing for community outreach activities, such as the ‘Other Places’, ‘Art & Health’ and ‘Neighbours’ programmes.

Over the last year, the Museum has managed to gather the support of several patrons, including the permanent support of the Dr José de Figueiredo Group – Friends of the Soares dos Reis National Museum.

Sá Lemos wrote a short but significant article full of tenderness and admiration for his grandfather Teixeira Lopes (Father), which is an essential testimony from someone who was close to him and witnessed his work.

José Joaquim Teixeira Lopes (1837-1918), also known as Teixeira Lopes (Father), dedicated himself from a very early age to creating miniatures in fired clay, representing popular customs that constituted a small but significant area among the many that his multifaceted artistic production covered.

The proliferation of figurines and groups numbered in the dozens and, by focusing on quality, it was able to face and win over the vast competition that invaded a market with limited artistic appetites.

His main source of inspiration was his observation of the customs, costumes, professions, typical characters, whether they were humorous or engaged in playful activities, from various regions of the country, mapping out the soul of the Portuguese people.

Addressing his grandfather, Sá Lemos wrote: “You, who knew your role models to the core, reproduced them by talking to them, even when they were absent, because you had them inside you, in your heart: look at that “Aguadeiro”, the popular Tanagra from the longing R. do Laranjal, the one who brought you water every day and talked to you, the one you cured of a bad cold with an application of nettles.”

In 1839, the Museum was taken over by the Director of the Academia Portuense de Belas Artes, who organised a series of exhibitions that honoured notable artists such as Soares dos Reis, Silva Porto, Marques de Oliveira and Henrique Pousão, in successive generations of masters and disciples.

With the proclamation of the Republic, it was renamed the Soares dos Reis Museum in memory of one of the most outstanding names in Portuguese art, and in 1932 it became a National Museum.

The links between Álvaro Siza’s architecture and the Baroque are present in various authors who have written about Siza, as well as in the way he himself, referring to Porto, and to Nasoni, in his own written texts, announces his interest and commitment to learning more about Baroque architecture and the city.

This programme includes a series of events that cross and intertwine Siza’s architecture, Nasoni’s architecture, gilded woodcarving, Baroque-contemporary music, etc.

On 12 September, the Soares dos Reis National Museum opens the Siza Baroque exhibition, which will run until 31 December, placing it side by side with ancient art and Fernando Távora’s project for the Museum.

Admission is free to all events, subject to capacity.

In the collection of the Soares dos Reis National Museum, the oeuvre of Henrique Pousão is strongly represented, in particular the artworks The White Houses of Capri (Casas Brancas de Capri), Lady in Black (Senhora Vestida de Preto) and Windows with Blue Shutters (Janelas das Persianas Azuis), paintings classified as national treasures.

‘A Magazine’ is the result of a successful application for Creative Entrepreneurship Support from the Magallanes ICC, the Magellan Centre for Entrepreneurship in the Cultural and Creative Industries.

According to its editorial, “A Magazine communicates the various dimensions of cultural heritage, the performing, visual and popular arts, handicrafts, archaeology, wine tourism and gastronomy, music, literature, and contemporary values, creating knowledge and recognition of them”.

In 2017, the Soares dos Reis National Museum, in collaboration with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, hosted the exhibition “José de Almada Negreiros: drawing in motion“. Curated by Mariana Pinto dos Santos, the exhibition brought together 90 artworks revealing the importance of cinematographic language in his artistic work.

Several of the artworks selected were initially in the exhibition “Almada Negreiros. A Way of Being Modern” which, at the beginning of that year, occupied various spaces in the Gulbenkian Museum and the Foundation’s programme in Lisbon.

In the majority of Almada Negreiros’ work, his desire to tell stories with images is clearly visible, many of them with hints of humour, both in series of drawings and in works integrated into buildings and even tapestries. Fascinated by the possibility of bringing drawings to life and putting them in motion, Almada Negreiros often intended to experiment with animation but never realized his wish.

The combination of cinema and drawing appears in works such as the magic lantern La Tragedia de Doña Ajada (1929) and the drawn film O Naufrágio da Ínsua (1934), works specifically designed for public presentations on cinema screens, real or imagined. The hybridity between drawing and cinema is also expressed in some of his literary, poetic and essayistic texts, where both plastic and cinematographic intersections can be seen.

“José de Almada Negreiros: drawing in motion” was on display at the Soares dos Reis National Museum between the 30^th of November 2017 and the 18^th of March 2018.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum is a cultural and artistic institution of reference, owner of a collection of international dimensions, thus, the action of the last triennium has been conducted towards “affirming the Museum as a place for the construction of meanings from its collections, a place of belonging and identity promoting reflection, creativity, and contemporary critical thinking.”

On the other hand, António Ponte adds “an intense and qualified program of temporary exhibitions has been promoted, along with a renewal in education services and work that solidifies the Museum’s approach to external communities”. The programs ‘Other Places’, ‘Art & Health’, and ‘Neighbours’ consolidate the strategic vision of opening the Museum to networks of community proximity.

Alongside these processes, the continuation of the internal procedures renewal, training and team reinforcement has been ensured, always aiming to provide an increasingly consolidated quality service to the Museum’s audiences.

It is worth noting that the Soares dos Reis National Museum ended the year 2023 with a total of visitors exceeding 74,500 entries, which represents a record attendance for the past five years.

In Paris, he settled in Rue Denfert-Rochereau, where other Portuguese artists such as Teixeira Lopes, the son, resided. He contacted the Parisian artist Alexandre Falguière (1831-1900) and various compatriots, including writers Eça de Queiroz (1845-1900) and António Nobre (1867-1900), painters Carlos Reis (1863-1940) and Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918), and the historian and art critic José de Figueiredo (1872-1937).

In 1893, with the end of financial support and lack of results, Augusto Santo was forced to return to Portugal. He then began working in his studio in Coimbrões and frequented the cafés of Praça Nova in Porto, where he met intellectuals like Pádua Correia and Manuel Laranjeira, who described him as a sad face, a sleepwalking misanthrope in the crowd.

Among the few surviving artworks from the destruction, the sculpture “Ismael” stands out, a final proof of his course at the Porto Academy of Fine Arts, dated 1889. The original, in plaster, is preserved at the Soares dos Reis National Museum, where the bronze cast is exhibited.

Augusto Santo died at Santo António Hospital in Porto on September 26, 1907, a victim of tuberculosis.

He is considered the father of Portuguese historiography and his poems and novels make him a key figure in romanticism. Hetook part and founded several cultural and news magazines and newspapers.

Herculano learnt the rudiments of historical research outside the academic circuit, which he was forced to abandon for economic reasons. Due to his opposition to Miguelism, he was forced into exile, first in England and then in France, where he came into contact with the artworks of the foreign historians, novelists and poets who would have a great influence on his future oeuvre. In 1832, he landed in Mindelo with the liberal troops and participated in the defence of Porto.

The most significant part of Alexandre Herculano’s literary work is concentrated in six prose texts, mainly dedicated to the genre known as historical narrative. This type of narrative combines the erudition of the historian, necessary for the meticulous reconstitution of the environments and customs of past eras, with the imagination of the literary writer, who creates or expands plots to compose his storylines.

Throughout its history, the Soares dos Reis National Museum has brought together collections from different origins, periods and places of production. This diversity has to do with a European tendency to consider Heritage in a multidisciplinary way, linking Painting and Sculpture with the Decorative Arts.

The evolution of religious sculpture in Europe, since the mid-Middle Ages, reflects the rapprochement between the believer and the Divine through the humanisation of works of art. Solemn representations of Christ and the Virgin gradually gave way to expressions of greater humanity.

The representation of the crucified Jesus Christ is a recurring theme in the Catholic religion, due to the relevance of this episode and the symbolism of the cross, manifesting Christ’s suffering but also his salvation. He is traditionally depicted with his arms and legs stretched out and nailed, following the shape of the cross itself.

From the Soares dos Reis National Museum’s long-term exhibition, we highlight two reference pieces this Holy Week: The Crucified Christ and the series of enamel plaques depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ.

The crucified Christ is one of a small number of wooden Christs on the cross that existed in Portugal between the 12^th and 14^th centuries and whose quality points to a peninsular production. The origin of this crucified Christ, attributed to the School of Valladolid or Palencia at the Amatller Institute of Hispanic Art, is unknown.

The image is articulated at the arms, allowing it to be displayed as a lying-in state on Good Friday. The representation of the suffering Christ (Christus patiens) evolved around the middle of the 12^th century in response to a spirituality directed towards the humanisation of Christ, culminating in the Crucifixion.

The series of 26 enamel plaques painted on copper depict scenes from the Passion of Christ, reproducing and recreating 24 of the 36 engravings that make up the series called ” Small Passion “, by the German artist Albrecht Dürer, published in 1511. Other enamel plaques depicting scenes from the Small Passion are attributed to the same artist, such as a series from the Wallace Collection, plaques from the Lyon Museum, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, among others.

The plaques are not signed or dated, but they are part of a group of pieces attributed to the same workshop in Limoges between 1550 and 1625. In addition to the 26 plaques in the Soares dos Reis National Museum, around 98 plaques are known today (distributed through various European collections), which are thought to have been produced in this workshop, now known by the convention name “Oficina da Pequena Paixão de Santa Cruz de Coimbra” (Workshop of the Small Passion of St Cross of Coimbra).

The series comes from the Sanctuary of the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, where it had already been in 1752 and from where it was removed in 1834 following the decree to abolish religious orders. The wooden altar element in which the plaques were inserted is still preserved in the sanctuary of the Monastery of Santa Cruz.

Not entirely satisfied with the final result of his work, Soares dos Reis wrote a letter to the Portuguese magazine Occidente, dated 25^th December 1888, in which he gave an account of the difficulties he had encountered during the process: “(…) I thank you for your interest in my person and my artistic works, but I cannot consent without protest to the bust of E. das Neves be classified as magnificent, in view of the special conditions that arose during its execution and particularly when it came to modelling it using photographs that were all different from each other and of all sizes”.

Emília das Neves de Sousa, ‘Linda Emília’ as she became known, was born in Lisbon in 1820 and was a leading Portuguese dramatic actress during the 19^th century, considered the first great female star to emerge in Portugal. She appeared in theatres when she was 18 and was applauded until 1883, the year of her death.

“Coming from a humble family, she managed, through the recognition of her exceptional talent, to capture the attention of figures such as Almeida Garrett, Mendes Leal, Rebelo da Silva, or Latino Coelho, who chose her as the protagonist of dramatic texts they authored or translated.” [1]

World Theatre Day has been celebrated annually on the 27^th of March since 1961, on the initiative of the International Theatre Institute. On this day, the aim is to highlight the importance of theatre in human history and culture.

[1] Vasconcelos, Ana Isabel. «A “LINDA EMÍLIA”: páginas esquecidas do teatro português oitocentista», 2017

The sculpture, in Carrara marble, represents the ‘Daughter of the Counts of Almedina’, Luísa Guimarães Guedes, whose parents owned the artwork, and is on display at the Soares dos Reis National Museum.

The sculpture was presented to Auguste Rodin (considered the father of modern sculpture) during his visit to Portugal, in one of the Duchess of Palmela’s Ateliers (the sculptor Maria Luíza Holstein), where Soares dos Reis occasionally worked during his stays in Lisbon. The quality of the masterpiece impressed and moved Rodin to the point where he kissed the Portuguese sculptor’s hands.

Dating from 1882, the evolution of this artwork is documented in drawings and models, revealing the sculptor’s involvement throughout the process. In this final sculpture, the complex elaboration of the modelling should be noted, especially in the hair, flowers and embroidery of the dress. In terms of composition, these are defining features of Soares dos Reis’ very own scheme: the sinuous pose with arms crossing at mid-body of the model, treated in repose, with a reserved expression.

Delfim Deodato Guedes (Santo Tirso, 18 November 1842 – Cascais, 26 September 1895) received the title of Count of Almedina from King Luís, and his daughter Luísa Guimarães Guedes was the 2nd Countess of Almedina. The title was awarded to Delfim Guedes in recognition of his support for the “Retrospective Exhibition of Portuguese and Spanish Ornamental Art”. The exhibition took place in the Alvor-Pombal Palace, also known as the Palácio das Janelas Verdes, and laid the foundations for the creation of the National Museum of Fine Arts, inaugurated 140 years ago (predecessor of the current National Museum of Ancient Art).

The exchange project to be carried out with the Soares dos Reis National Museum aims to gain a closer and comparative understanding of the recent process of reformulating the long-term exhibition, from a perspective that encompasses the various dimensions of sustainability.

Based on this experience, the work to be carried out at the Museu do Diamante will be studied, in the processes of museological reformulation, community participation, educational actions, communication and management.

In this 5th edition of the Ibermuseus Training Grants, 20 projects by museum professionals from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Spain, Mexico and Uruguay were selected to receive support from Ibermuseus to carry out the exchange program.

About Ibermuseums

One of Ibermuseums’ objectives is to promote the sustainability of Ibero-American museum institutions and processes, given that the issue has been under constant debate on the global political agenda since the 1970s. Currently, this issue is one of the priority tasks for the United Nations (UN) and its States for the next fifteen years, the period foreseen for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG -2030) in each country.

The action, which responds to the demand for specific policies for the museum sector, is approached from a multidimensional (social, cultural, economic and environmental) and transdisciplinary perspective, involving different areas of knowledge.

The Ibermuseums Program is a cooperation initiative of 22 Ibero-American countries, with a view to promoting and articulating public policies in the area of museums. Portugal is one of the member countries of this program and is part of the group of 11 countries that make up the respective Intergovernmental Committee.

At the end of the 1820s, under the competition of several years of imported tableware from England, the production of pieces similar in shape and/or decoration to the English ones began, some of which will be presented in the exhibition “Zaffre Blue Tin-Glazed Earthenware From the Miragaia Factory”, to be inaugurated on March 22 at the Soares dos Reis National Museum.

In the 1850s, after financial problems, the factory closed down, completing around 80 years of activity, remaining to this day a symbol of the quality of the earthenware produced in Porto and Gaia.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum preserves a collection of around 180 objects from the Miragaia Factory, as a result of various additions.

Curated by José da Costa Reis, the exhibition “Zaffre Blue Tin-Glazed Earthenware From the Miragaia Factory” explores the theme of ‘zaffre blue’ earthenware, so called because of the shade of the color of its glaze, produced at the Miragaia Factory, in Porto, and dating from 1775 to 1822.

The museological organization of the exhibition promotes the relationship between this collection and other collections at the Soares dos Reis National Museum, valuing its contextualization and interpretation with approaches to history and European plastic arts, namely Painting, Drawing and Engraving.

Located on a small hill on the outskirts of Vila do Conde, with views over the Ave river valley and the city itself, the Santa Clara Convent was included in a support program by Turismo de Portugal, and in 2018 the public tender was launched for its concession, rehabilitation works and operation as a hotel establishment.

With no date yet for the official opening ceremony, the hotel group that won the tender has already announced that the new five-star hotel, The Lince Santa Clara, will open on 22 March.

The convent was founded in 1318 by D. Afonso Sanches, the illegitimate son of King Dinis and his wife D. Teresa Martins, to house noblewomen with few resources. It was donated the following year to the Order of St Clare and functioned as a women’s convent until its extinction in the 19th century. The convent building was partially rebuilt in 1777 and underwent successive alterations until the end of the 20th century.

As part of a vast monumental ensemble, which also includes the Gothic Church of Santa Clara, its cloister and the aqueduct, its volumetry is a neoclassical image of the town and the valley of the River Ave.

The museological organisation of the exhibition promotes the relationship between this collection and other decorative arts collections at the Soares dos Reis National Museum, which precede the modern concept of design, valuing their contextualisation and interpretation with approaches to history and European plastic arts, namely Painting, Drawing and Engraving.

The exhibition and its guide are intended to increase the visibility and knowledge of the ceramics collection at the Soares dos Reis National Museum, one of the most important ceramics collections held by a Portuguese national museum, establishing the relationship between the influences of English culture on the production of the Miragaia Factory.

António Ponte, Director of the Soares dos Reis National Museum, points out that this exhibition allows “the establishment of a dialogue, both programmatic and museographic, between the zaffre earthenware and other objects from the Soares dos Reis National Museum’s collection, reflecting the idea of transversality in the Portuguese decorative and plastic arts of this period”, which is the result of “a will to think of the collections beyond their borders and in accordance with the aspirations and needs of the contemporary visitor”.

The Museum’s ceramics collection currently includes around 4,000 pieces of different types: tiles, designer ceramics, Portuguese and Spanish earthenware (16th to 20th centuries), Chinese and Japanese porcelain (16th to 20th centuries), European porcelain (19th and 20th centuries) and Dutch earthenware from Delft (17th and 18th centuries).

A brief history of the Miragaia Factory in Porto

In the context of the reforms of Portuguese industry promoted by the minister Marquis of Pombal, the Miragaia Factory was founded in Miragaia (Porto) in 1775 by João Rocha (1720-1799), a Minho merchant who had become rich in Brazil. His nephew João Bento da Rocha was a founding partner.

The aim of the entrepreneurs was to manufacture the objects as they were produced in foreign countries, especially China and Europe.

In 1814, after the losses suffered during the French Invasions, the Miragaia Factory was the largest ceramics factory in Porto, with 27 workers, among whom there were numerous family ties, facilitating the transmission of technical and artistic knowledge.

At the end of the 1820s, under the competition of years of imported pottery from England, Miragaia Factory began to produce objects similar in shape and/or decoration to the English ones, some of which are shown in the exhibition Zaffre Blue Tin-Glazed Earthenware From the Miragaia Factory. In the 1850s, after financial problems, the factory closed down, completing around 80 years of activity, remaining to this day a symbol of the quality of the earthenware produced in Porto and Gaia.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum preserves a collection of around 180 pieces from the Miragaia Factory, the result of various incorporations.

Born in Porto, João Marques de Oliveira’s childhood vocation for drawing led him to enter the Academia Portuense de Belas Artes at the age of 11.

In 1873, he left for Paris as a pensionerwith his colleague Silva Porto. In the City of Light, Marques de Oliveira continued his studies at the National School of Fine Arts with professors Alexandre Cabanel and M. Yvon and had the opportunity to make contact with some pictorial movements, such as the naturalism of the Barbizon School and Impressionism, and to make study visits to Holland, Belgium and Italy. His artworks from this period were awarded medals and honourable mentions on several occasions. As his final exam at boarding school, he presented the painting Cephalus and Prochris, which is on display at the Soares dos Reis National Museum’s long-term exhibition.

On their return to Portugal in 1879, at a time of turmoil in Porto’s artistic milieu, dominated by heated debate about academic reform and the teaching of Fine Arts, Oliveira and Silva Porto introduced the practice of open-air painting in Portugal and were named Academicians of Merit of the Portuguese Fine Arts Association. In this context, the Centro Artístico Portuense (Portuense Artistic Centre) emerged in Porto in 1880, an association of artists seeking the progress of the arts in Portugal, just as the Grupo de Leão art movement was promoting in Lisbon, with the participation of Silva Porto. In the first election for the board of this institution, the sculptor Soares dos Reis took over the presidency and Marques de Oliveira the vice-presidency, as well as being a member of the technical council. In this capacity, he organised an acclaimed exhibition entitled “Bazar do Centro Artístico Portuense”, which took place in the former Palácio de Cristal between 27 March and April 1881.

By decree of 26 May 1911, the Academies of Fine Arts gave way to three Councils of Art and Archaeology, with the Oporto District becoming responsible for the Oporto Museum, which was then renamed the Soares dos Reis Museum.

In 1913, he left his position as director of the Porto School of Fine Arts to take over as director of the Soares dos Reis Museum, while retaining his positions on the Council of Art and Archaeology. In 1926 he was forced to give up teaching because he had exceeded the age limit allowed by the new law, but also for health reasons. He died in Porto on 9 October 1927.