Museu Nacional de Arqueologia

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Main entrance

The Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (German: "National Museum of Archeology") is a museum in Lisbon 's Belém district .

history

The museum was founded in 1893 by the Portuguese archaeologist José Leite de Vasconcelos as the Museu Ethnographico Português ("Portuguese Ethnographic Museum"). The initial holdings were the founder's collection and the collection of another private individual: Estácio da Veiga. Many works of art were taken over by the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (National Museum of Ancient Art). After the proclamation of the republic in 1910, the collection was expanded to include large holdings from the property of the royal family.

Numerous exhibits also come from its own excavation work, which the museum has been doing since its early days. Since 1895 the museum has reported on its activities in its own scientific publication O Arqueólogo Português (“The Portuguese Archaeologist”).

The permanent collection consists of two main sections: Finds from Egypt and Finds from Portugal. The latter presents numerous finds from the Bronze Age and also has an important collection of Roman mosaics, mainly from southern Portugal. In addition, exhibitions on special topics are constantly being set up, which are usually accompanied by scientific publications. The museum also maintains the most important archaeological library in Portugal.

building

The Jeronimos Monastery in Belém: on the right the church, in the middle the Archaeological Museum and on the left the Naval Museum

The Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Belém is one of the most important buildings in Portugal, built in the Manueline architectural style. The building has always been a World Heritage Site and officially since 1983 .

The National Museum of Archeology has been located in the middle of the Jeronimos Monastery since 1903 and occupies the entire area of ​​the building designed as a dormitory (dormitory), which, however, was mostly only used as storage space. The entrance is in the west portal. At the western end of the museum is the Naval Museum and forms the end of the 300 meter long building complex.

Related issues in Portugal

In addition to the National Museum, there is another archaeological museum in Lisbon: the Museu Arqueológico do Carmo in the Convento do Carmo , where mainly architectural fragments as well as medieval and Jewish tombstones are exhibited.

In the museum at the Conimbriga site near Condeixa-a-Nova , numerous finds from Roman times are exhibited, which were discovered in Conimbriga and other sites in the north and center of Portugal.

literature

Web links

Coordinates: 38 ° 41 ′ 50.2 "  N , 9 ° 12 ′ 25.4"  W.