Jurisdiction: Regional Secretary for Education, Culture and Sport
REGIONAL DIRECTORATE FOR CULTURE
Director: Jorge Augusto Paulus Bruno
The Museum of Angra do Heroísmo is a georeferenced museum, where the local, regional, national and international spheres intersect and complement each other. Its strategic location and history place the Azorean islands in a global political context, within it both Terceira Island and Angra do Heroísmo become its focal point.
Hence, the Museum of Angra do Heroísmo is a encyclopedic museum, which seeks to reflect not only our history with its political and economic facts and movements marked by the dominance of the Atlantic but also our culture in its multiple forms and meanings as fuelled and shaped by island existence.
History
MAH was officially created on March 30, 1949, under the aegis of the Junta Geral do Distrito Autónomo de Angra do Heroísmo. The museum’s first director was Manuel Coelho Baptista de Lima, who oversaw it for three decades. The Bettencourt Palace was our first permenant site, which was shared with the Angra District Archive between 1951 and 1969. We were then transferred to the São Francisco convent, our current premises.
The building was seriously damaged by the earthquake of January 1, 1980, which then leaft it in percarious safety conditions. Some of the spaces on the lower floor remained open to the public until consolidation, restoration and adaptation work began in 1991. It opened in November 1997, but it wasn’t until September 2000 that the permanent exhibition was fully reopened.
Collection Characterization
Our collection is chiefly characterised by its diversity. Herein lays its great wealth. Our military history and 18th and 19th century transport collections are remarkable, placing it on a par with other Portuguese museums. Our paintings, imagery, ceramics and furniture afford the museum a privileged position among other regional museums, and ethnography colletion allow for a natural representation of Terceira’s own culture.
We also house a large number of lesser-known but no less important collections, such as of technical and scientific instruments, civil and religious dress, toys and musical instruments.
Services
Documentation Center headquarters building (access restricted to students and researchers)
Gift shop
Facilities and equipment leasing
Auditorium/bar – capacity: 100 people | Cloister – capacity: 500 people
Price list: Portaria n.º 69/2004 de 12 de Agosto
Form: Despacho n.º 635/2004 de 17 de Agosto