"I strongly embrace your idea". Bernardino Machado's reply to José Leite de Vasconcelos regarding the creation of the Portuguese Ethnographic Museum, currently the National Museum of Archaeology, is the title of the temporary exhibition that opened this Friday, October 14th, at Bernardino Machado Museum, resulting from a partnership between Vila Nova de Famalicão City Hall, the National Museum of Archaeology and the National Mint.
The exhibition, which has the High Patronage of the President of the Republic, was planned to have its first public appearance at the Jerónimos Monastery, where the National Museum of Archaeology is installed. However, the beginning of works in this cultural infrastructure, through the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), made the inauguration take place in Famalicão, in the 'house' that celebrates and preserves the memory of the former President of the Republic, Bernardino Machado.
"We can thus say that this exhibition, which is based on the estate preserved in the Bernardino Machado Museum, and on pieces from the National Museum of Archaeology, is an archaeological find, and a notion of heritage, insofar as it discovers, or rather makes us discover, a heritage, and a notion of heritage", said the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
"This is a happy initiative that makes our municipality proud and that reflects the cultural work that has been developed in the county, namely at the level of study, research and valorisation of its most preeminent figures, especially those who, like Bernardino Machado, gave a net contribution to the evolution of Portuguese thought and culture", highlighted the Mayor, Mário Passos, last Friday.
The inauguration counted with the presence of the Mayor of Famalicense, the Director-General of Cultural Heritage, João Carlos dos Santos, the Director of the National Archaeology Museum, António Carvalho, and the scientific coordinator of Bernardino Machado Museum, Norberto Cunha.
João Carlos dos Santos stressed the fruitful partnership between the entities involved in this process, namely the museological units. "More than an exhibition organised by a museum, which requested and receives goods from other museums, this is an exhibition organised from scratch, jointly, by two museums that met each other and established a dialogue between the two collections", said the Director-General.
The director of the National Museum of Archaeology highlighted that "strictly speaking, the foundation of the Museu Ethnographico Portuguez is the testimony of an illuminated and virtuous partnership" between the two historical personalities, commenting that the good relations between the museum he directs and the Bernardino Machado Museum resulted in a "happy dialogue between two collections of two national museums".
"It is an exhibition that makes us enjoy the friendship of two choice souls", said Norberto Cunha, clearly satisfied with the result of the synergy between the museological units.
"I strongly embrace your idea. Bernardino Machado, José Leite de Vasconcelos and the Museums in Portugal" has free entrance and will be open until April 23rd 2023 at Bernardino Machado Museum.
The exhibition results from an application to the ProMuseus project - Financial Support Programme to Museums of the Portuguese Museum Network (Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage / Ministry of Culture), which originated a financing in the order of 30 thousand euros, corresponding to about 60% of the total invested, and the remaining amount will be supported by the three partners involved.
