«Making» the newly created Museum is one of the main objectives of the new Association of Friends of the Lyceum Museum Faro, formalized last Saturday, November 25th, by 58 founders.
The Museum cbegan to take its first steps in May, when António Manuel Meira Pinto, current curator, had the idea of opening the Liceu estate (current Escola Secundária João de Deus) to the entire population.
«On May 13th, We opened the museum with the first exhibition, “Manuel Viegas Guerreiro and the Lyceu museum nucleus” and, since then, we have never stopped. After everything is set up, we just had to create an association to be able to have legal and financial support», explains Meira Pinto to Sul Informação.
On the 25th, in a ceremony that took place in the João de Deus Secondary School Library, in Faro, the statutes and Social Bodies were unanimously elected.
In the words of Carlos Luís, former student and current director of the Secondary School, the creation of this museum is important not only for the school community, but also for the city of Faro.
«This museum brings us history and explains what we are today", he says, highlighting the hundreds of pieces, books and documents that can be found there, some of which have been in this school for decades, some of which were donated by the former teacher and ethnologist Manuel Viegas Guerreiro, who today is “the patron of the Lyceum Museum of Faro».
In recent months, it is there, in a room on the first floor of the Liceu, that Manuel Meira Pinto has spent most of his days, researching, cataloging and organizing the material he finds.
Now, with the Museum formally constituted, in that room there are two permanent exhibitions – the recreation of an old classroom and the rector's room – and others that are being published depending on the themes. There is also a space dedicated to collection pieces, which are already being donated to the museum.
According to Manuel Meira Pinto, «theThe fundamental pillars of the museum's existence include opening its doors to the outside, but also integrating the student community and teachers», something that is already happening.
«We created a small but good group of interested parties, because they have to be students with a passion for this and they were the ones students who, on Saturday, supported us in public relations, in managing people and were extraordinary».
The curator also highlights that there have already been guided tours of the Museum by various groups, from Faro and even other municipalities in the Algarve.
For now, the Lyceu Museum is not yet open daily to the entire community, by appointment only, but Meira Pinto and Carlos Luís hope that this will be a reality in the near future.
“We also have the idea, and I had already spoken to the Chamber about this, of including this museum in the city's tourist itinerary and promoting, by appointment, guided tours of the museum and the building, which also have historical value", emphasizes director Carlos Luís, referring to There are often tourists wanting to enter the school to visit.
From now on, the idea will also be to compete for financing projects to construct a building, within the school perimeter, to house the museum.
«This room where we are is good, but we no longer have space. The idea is to move to a simple, modern, first-floor building, for which I already have the project completed this May», says Manuel Meira Pinto, enthusiastically.
Thus, by the end of the year, the objective is to “deal with all the bureaucracy” and then “make this move forward”, says the curator of the Lyceum Museum of Faro.
Social Bodies of the Association of Friends of the Lyceum Museum Faro
Marco António Gonçalves Lopes (Vice President)
Luís Gabriel Gago Horta (Secretary)
Sílvio Alexandre Rosa da Ponte (Vice President)
Sandra Isabel dos Santos Costa e Espada (Secretary)
Carla Isabel Dias Anico (Treasurer)
Susana Cristina Martins Gonçalves (Member)
Humberto Quaresma Miguel (Replacement member)
Márcia Lúcia Simbron Pimentel Silva (Replacement member)
Liliana Maria Jacinto da Silva (Member)
Luís António Silva Gabadinho (Member)
Photos: Mariana Sedge | Sul Informação
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