It is located in Largo da República, on Rua Tenente Valadim, city and district of Leiria, in central Portugal
Housed in the former Convent of Santo Agostinho, the fantastic Leiria Museum opened its doors to the public.
History of the Leiria Museum
The Leiria Museum is an open window on the memory of a long-inhabited territory that, at the beginning of the 21st century, reveals itself with a new perspective on a complex reality.
An idea that emerged in times of the Liberal Monarchy, the Museum owed its implementation to the persistent efforts of Tito Larcher (1865-1932) which took shape in the Decree of November 15, 1917 with the creation of the Regional Museum of Works of Art, Archeology and Numismatics of Leiria.
In 2006, the process began that returned the Convent of St. Augustine to the city's experience, a monument built from 1577 (the church) and 1579 (the convent complex), and now inhabited by the new Leiria Museum.
The museological program that was sought fits beyond the collection of the old museum, the municipal artistic collections and the archaeological reserve, constituting the core of the network of municipal museums, open to the City and its territory.
An idea that emerged in times of the Liberal Monarchy, the Museum owed its implementation to the persistent efforts of Tito Larcher (1865-1932) which took shape in the Decree of November 15, 1917 with the creation of the Regional Museum of Works of Art, Archeology and Numismatics of Leiria.
In 2006, the process began that returned the Convent of St. Augustine to the city's experience, a monument built from 1577 (the church) and 1579 (the convent complex), and now inhabited by the new Leiria Museum.
The museological program that was sought fits beyond the collection of the old museum, the municipal artistic collections and the archaeological reserve, constituting the core of the network of municipal museums, open to the City and its territory.
Characteristics of the Leiria Museum
The Leiria Museum is organized into two exhibition spaces and the first features a long-term exhibition that provides a general reading of the territory's history through events and myths that define the country's central identity.
The second space features temporary exhibitions that allow you to delve deeper into specific themes and collections.
The permanent exhibition and the temporary exhibition that currently presents a work on the 5 thousand years of occupation of the hill where Leiria Castle is located.
The museum's collection spent 97 years in different corners of the city, but now it is finally compiled in this renovated building.
The museum tells the history of the city of Leiria and is organized chronologically, it has a conservation and restoration laboratory, a documentation center, a research center, an educational center, a multifunctional room and a reserves area.
The main highlights of the museum are: the Guimarota fossils (fossils of primitive mammals that are 150 million years old), paleontological references and the Menino do Lapedo (fossil of a child dating back to the Early Upper Paleolithic found in the Lapedo Valley in 1998), a very important find in human evolution.
The history of Leiria is presented in great detail: from the construction of the castle to the Roman city of Collipo, the Leiria pine forest and Leira as a city-diocese.
The museum also has a large collection of archaeology, sculpture and ancient and contemporary painting.
The second space features temporary exhibitions that allow you to delve deeper into specific themes and collections.
The permanent exhibition and the temporary exhibition that currently presents a work on the 5 thousand years of occupation of the hill where Leiria Castle is located.
The museum's collection spent 97 years in different corners of the city, but now it is finally compiled in this renovated building.
The museum tells the history of the city of Leiria and is organized chronologically, it has a conservation and restoration laboratory, a documentation center, a research center, an educational center, a multifunctional room and a reserves area.
The main highlights of the museum are: the Guimarota fossils (fossils of primitive mammals that are 150 million years old), paleontological references and the Menino do Lapedo (fossil of a child dating back to the Early Upper Paleolithic found in the Lapedo Valley in 1998), a very important find in human evolution.
The history of Leiria is presented in great detail: from the construction of the castle to the Roman city of Collipo, the Leiria pine forest and Leira as a city-diocese.
The museum also has a large collection of archaeology, sculpture and ancient and contemporary painting.
