Dear colleagues,

I am writing to ask for your support against the plans to dismantle the
Geological Museum of Lisbon.

Unfortunately, in the last few years various attempts have been made to
dismantle this museum, which has been chronically understaffed and deprived
of appropriate funds.

The Geological Museum of Lisbon was created in the mid-19th century by the
Geological Survey of Portugal, and it is one of the few examples of a 19th
century museum in Portugal by its content, lay-out and furniture. It was
then housed in the same building which also houses the Academy of Sciences
of Lisbon, but it belongs to the Institute of Geology and Mining, which
inherited it together with the archive of the Geological Survey. In addition
to its historical interest, the Museum is indispensable to present day
scientific studies, because it possesses reference collections of fossils,
minerals, archaeological and paleoanthropological items collected in
Portugal and purchased in Europe to well-known 19th century collectors and
museums.

The last blow came last August, when the Minister of Science of the newly
elected government, upon the request of the Academy of Sciences, which for
no foreseeable reason claims to need the space occupied by the museum,
decided that the Museum has to be dismantled and moved into a building away
from the city-centre where it is now. In addition, by knowing how things
work here, I am sure the collections will be mixed up, there will be nobody
to take care of them in many years to come, and they will probably end up
dumped somewhere. 

If you feel you can express your views on this appalling decision please
write to a letter to (until 25 September):

 

Professor Miguel Ramalho

Instituto Geológico e Mineiro 

Estrada da Portela

Apartado 7586

P-2720 Alfragide 

Portugal

 

Professor Ramalho is gathering material to send to the Minister.  PLEASE
state your position and credentials and if you know of curators of similar
museums that might help it would be great to have their statements. 

Looking forward to hearing from you, many thanks,

Ana Carneiro

(Assistant Professor of History of Science at the New University of Lisbon)

 


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