Year
2018-2019
Category
Museums
Location
Porto, Portugal
Works executed
Conceptual and final design | Content research, development and production | Media Production | Fit out.
The mission of Jewish Museum of Porto is to disclose the historical and cultural importance of Jews in Portugal and of the Portuguese Jews throughout the world, highlighting the Sephardic Jewish Diaspora (Portuguese) and the history of the Jewish community of Porto.
The museum is historically and chronologically organised, forward-looking and open to the outside world. The scenographic environment of Al-Andalusian inspiration includes a collection of historical and symbolic value, associated with contemporary exhibition resources, seeking a balance between content and form. The exhibition discourse is based not only on this collection, but also on the choice of museographic resources that support it, whether in the physical dimension (exhibition showcases, models, replicas…), in the audiovisual and multimedia domain (video clips, digital resources…), or even in the scenography providing its framework (the aforementioned Al-Andaluz-inspired style).
The connecting thread of the whole exhibition route was structured as a timeline, presenting five exhibition areas from the origins of the Jews to the Jewish community in Porto in the XXI century, allowing the visitor to follow intuitively the chronological script orientation, fully enjoy the visit to the exhibition, and integrating the viewing of a film on the upper floor of the building.
The aim is to promote religious tolerance and awareness of the strong cultural, historical and social connection of the Jews to Porto and Portugal through the content accessible to the different types of public.
Thinking about heritage is reflecting on a legacy from the past, its communication in the present and its transmission to the future.
Thus, the exhibited collection and its specificities were combined, with supports, physical resources and technological solutions allowing, in an appealing way, to reflect the proposed contents, adjusted to the limitations and constraints imposed by the space. It is configured as a dynamic, functional, symbolic, appealing and pedagogical museum.
