Name of legal entity: Museu Marítimo de Sesimbra/ Sesimbra Maritime Museum
Country: Portugal
City: Sesimbra
Website: http://museusesimbra.pt/#/
Description Summary of the Project
Type of Organization
Housed in a listed 17th century military building – the Fortress of Santiago – Sesimbra Maritime Museum sees itself as a bridge between the local community and a maritime heritage of over two hundred million years in its multiple aspects: natural, archaeological, ethnographical, historical and cultural. A reflection of an exhaustive work to compile objects, documents and oral testimonies, its mission is to safeguard, conserve and disseminate this legacy, fostering close dialogue between the generations of former fishermen, visitors, young people, local inhabitants, academics and future men of the sea.
Project Idea
Our goal is to restore a centenary building where fishermen saw for the first time the magic of cinema. It homed Sesimbra last traditional grocery store, which hopefully will be open to the public again; it will also allow the installation of visitable reserve, as well as a conservation and restoration laboratory, and a room for training and educational activities. Thus, the community will have access to the material evidence of its cultural identity, and the collection may be visited by the public. Our project also aims to promote this heritage in favor of economic activities through the valorization of genuine products, produced from sustainable fishing, which will have as its motto a five thousand year old hook, which is part of our exhibition and its is one of the oldest in Europe. Finally, the most ambitious point: The recovery and teaching of traditional wood shipbuilding, a centenary and environmentally sustainable activity, which practice has almost been lost in recent decades. Through the rehabilitation of the last wooden shipyard, we intend to recover typical boats and promote, among young students, the profession shipbuilder as a craft of the future.
Intended Partnership
We are looking for a partner with museums and/or cultural organizations with whom we can exchange knowledge, practical experiences and training in the following areas:
1. Conservation, packaging and restoration of archeological and ethnographic pieces of maritime type.
2. Promotion, enhancement and dissemination of products made from sustainable fishing.
3. Rehabilitate and implement a training plan that will captivate young students to learn the wooden shipbuilder craft.
4. Define and implement strategies in order to identify and safeguard the maritime heritage in its multiple aspects.
5. Diversity the work areas with the community, creating new lines of action in the educational area.