Category: Civil Architecture > Museum
District: Açores > Angra do Heroísmo > Angra do Heroísmo > Sé
The Angra do Heroísmo Museum is located in the heart of the city's historic center, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is housed within the former São Francisco Convent, in the Sé area. Its central position reflects the historical importance of the building it occupies and the city's relevance in the insular and Atlantic context.
The museum's home is the historic São Francisco Convent, an imposing structure dating back to the 17th century. The building includes a cloister of significant architectural scale and the annexed Church of Nossa Senhora da Guia. Inside the church, visitors can observe elements such as the gilded altarpiece, dated from the 18th century, a Portuguese organ from the same period, and sets of tile panels illustrating passages from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.
The site where the convent stands has an even longer history, having been the location of an earlier 15th-century construction. This site was the burial place of notable figures in Portuguese history, such as Paulo da Gama (Vasco da Gama's brother) and João Vaz Corte-Real.
The museum houses a rich and diverse collection, offering an overview of regional history and the island's complex relations with the rest of the world, shaped by its central position in the Atlantic. The collections cover areas such as ethnography, armory and military history, painting, sculpture, furniture, and costumes.
There are also sections dedicated to transport, ceramics, musical instruments, toys, photography, medal collecting, and numismatics. A significant part of the collection is dedicated to sacred art, including imagery, altar implements, and vestments. The museum also highlights the contemporary Plastic Arts collection of Angra artist António Dacosta.
Conceived as a "synthesis museum," this cultural space aims to present the history of Terceira Island and its culture, highlighting Angra do Heroísmo's strategic role in the Atlantic domain. Through its exhibitions, the museum reflects on the political-economic facts and movements that marked the island's existence and the multiple forms of culture generated in this context.
The visit allows visitors to understand how the geographical location of the Azores, and particularly Angra, integrated the archipelago into global contexts and how major conflicts and Atlantic exchanges influenced local development throughout the centuries.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt
Coordinates DD: 38.6569648,-27.2169375
Coordinates DMS: 38°39'25.1"N 27°13'1.0"W
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