Presentation
The Academy’s Museum has a vast and diverse material heritage associated with the educational and research activities carried out by the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon over more than two centuries. A significant part of this historical scientific collection - made up of collections of archaeology, ethnography, geology, paleontology, zoology, scientific instruments, among others, obtained through legacies and donations - is on display in six rooms in the permanent exhibition gallery.
Mission
The Museum's mission is to conserve, study and promote its collection, as well as to preserve the institutional memory of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon.
Objectives
- Studying the collections and sets of objects that make up the museum's collection, promoting their inventory, systematic organization of documentation and conservation.
- Promote the Museum's collection through a regular programe of exhibitions, guided tours and other related activities.
- Assisting and addressing inquiries from visitors, including researchers, higher education students, professionals from other museums and the general public.
A Brief History of the Museum and its Collection
Instalado no antigo Convento da Nossa Senhora de Jesus, o nome do Museu Maynense é uma homenagem ao seu fundador: frei José Mayne (1723-1792), Provincial da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco e sócio da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa.
In the second quarter of the 18th century, this religious man invested his personal assets for the benefit of the Convent Library and a Cabinet of "curiosities" made up of various artefacts, paintings, drawings, medals, as well as a vast collection of natural history specimens. An avid collector, Friar José Mayne put his collection at the service of a public class, set up in the Convent of Jesus, exclusively dedicated to teaching the subject he called "Theological Natural History". The stated aim of this class was to highlight the "natural wonders of Creation" through the study of the three kingdoms of nature: mineral, vegetable and animal.
To ensure the future of his project, Friar José Mayne entrusted the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, founded at the end of the 18th century (1779) and of which he was a member, with the task of managing his museum legacy. This gesture was decisive for that years later, with the extinction of the religious orders in 1834, the Academy of Sciences moved to the Convent of Jesus, where it is still located today. This installation took place in 1833, a year before Queen D. Maria II granted ownership following the extinction of the religious orders.
The Academy took possession of the Museum's assets at the same time it created a new educational institution known as Maynense Institute. It initiated with a Zoology Class in 1836, reflecting contemporary educational methods, and later expanded in 1849 to encompass a comprehensive Natural History, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, and Geology Course. Open to the public free of charge, the course ran for 70 years, but closed in the 20th century (1919). Using the experimental method, a significant part of the cultural artifacts commissioned for this teaching endeavor are still part of the Maynense Museum's collections.
Over the centuries, the Museum was expanded and enriched with items from different sources, including convent relics, inheritances from the royal family and the Royal Museum of Ajuda, the outcomes of scientific expeditions or archaeological campaigns, donations and bequests from academics, among others. Its collections reflect the extensive connections between the institution and other European scientific societies and academies, as well as the exchanges between its members and naturalists, which provided an intense dynamic of buying, selling or exchanging cultural goods. They also bear witness to the services that the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon provided to the country by stimulating research and teaching in scientific and cultural subjects, not to mention their realisation in economic and technological terms.
The Digital Gallery available on this site refers to digital content prepared in previous years which, through external links, allows you to get closer to some of the Museum's exhibition centres.
