The Management of Archaeological Remains in Portugal, 1893–1932: Private Collectors and the Development of the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia

Abstract

The National Archaeological Museum in Portugal was established in 1893 and initially housed in the Lisbon Academy of Science building. State policy envisaged the definition and representation in museological terms of the history and identity of the nation, while the personal interests and ambitions of José Leite de Vasconcelos (1858-1941), the first director, are evident in the result. The strategy for growing collections was so successful that the museum had to be moved to the Jerónimos monastery in 1900, where collections could be expanded, a location which was better suited to the public and patriotic ideals pursued. When it was first created in Lisbon, the national museum sought to document a pre-Roman national identity. The director of the museum was supported in this aim by the high level of interest in collecting among private individuals throughout the country. This movement flourished in the absence of regulation within the field of archaeology, while individual collectors used their academic and professional knowledge in other fields to record and conserve objects which otherwise would have been lost or destroyed. The multitude of private collectors all over the country contributed to the success of the museum: some sent information, documentation and numerous objects which helped to develop the archaeological collections of the institution, while others competed with it at the local level for the possession of objects and the investigation of archaeological sites that were relevant for the construction of the memory of the nation. These practices continued on an informal basis until 1932, when new laws, created to regulate the field of archaeology as a whole, began to limit the activity of private individuals interested in preserving and studying remains and identity at the regional and national level as part of romantic interest in the study of “the country” and “the Portuguese”.