International Museum Day – 18 May 2024 – ‘Museums for education and research’
ICOM has been organising International Museum Day since 1977 with the aim of raising awareness of the important role museums have in enriching cultures, mutual understanding, and promoting cooperation and peace between people. This year’s theme, ‘Museums for education and research‘, emphasises the fundamental role of cultural institutions in offering an educational experience that helps to form aware citizens who promote sustainability and inclusion.
The Cláudio Torres Mértola Museum is joining in these celebrations with a programme involving various partnerships and activities aimed at different audiences. As the result of research carried out over more than four decades and a partnership between the municipality, the Mértola Archaeological Site (CAM) and various Portuguese and foreign universities, the International Seminar Do Sarq ao Garb. Espaços funerários, sociedade e urbanismo do Al-Andalus. (Maqbara II)’ will take place from 16 to 18 May, organised by the CAM and the University of Granada. This seminar brings together researchers from a wide range of fields and aims to analyse the most recent discoveries in the context of Andalusian necropolises, presenting sciences’ contributions, from an interdisciplinary perspective, to their understanding and knowledge.
Also the result of a partnership and collaboration in the field of the arts, in its most varied expressions, we highlight the workshops held with primary school students from the Mértola School Group, in collaboration with the Casa das Artes Mário Elias, as part of the temporary exhibition ‘Bordar o Sereno‘ by Sara Domingos, which is on display at the Islamic Art and Weaving Workshop museum units. In the words of Sara Domingos, the ‘Desenhar um Talismã‘ workshop aims to establish links with cultural communities and local school groups to raise awareness and respect for the rights of individuals and their differences in the formation of contemporary societies, thus seeking to correct misinterpretations about representations of other forms of culture.
Still on the subject of the relationship between the arts, the school community and the museum, the film ‘A Visita, o Museu, o Anel, a Jarra e a Alcateia‘, developed as part of the film workshop ‘Olhar com o Museu de Mértola Cláudio Torres‘, by the Associação Entre Imagem, will be shown. The filming and production was carried out by a group of children at the Islamic Art museum unit and the Casa das Artes Mário Elias, with the aim of deepening the children’s sense of belonging to their heritage, leading them to value their culture and roots through film.
Mértola, Caminhos Sonoros includes a musical and literary walk and a concert in the Main Church. Mértola is a place of stories that the community recognises and retells, and on this walk we discover the sound imagery created by Samuel Gapp, based on his experiences as an Artist in the Community and the contact he has had with the places and the people who inhabit them. Pedro Bravo and Rita Sales join this imagery, telling stories that dialogue with the landscape and Samuel Gapp’s sound creations, performed live by André Carvalho (double bass) and Jan Michálek (saxophone), who are joined by the voices of the Mina de São Domingos Choir Group.
Take part in these activities and visit the Cláudio Torres Mértola Museum. More information at www.museudemertola.pt