Soares dos Reis National Museum receives Museum of the Year Award

The Soares dos Reis National Museum was honoured today with the Museum of the Year Award by the Portuguese Museology Association (APOM), at a session chaired by the President of the Republic, held at the Alfândega do Porto.

Before the APOM 2024 awards ceremony, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had the opportunity to visit the Soares dos Reis National Museum, paying particular attention to the painting ‘Descent from the Cross’ by Domingos Sequeira, which belongs to the Livraria Lello Foundation and will become part of the long-term exhibition.

For António Ponte, Director of the Soares dos Reis National Museum, this is a distinction that ‘greatly honours the institution, rewarding the dedication and commitment of all the staff who contribute daily to raising and sustaining the Museum's reputation, which is increasingly strengthened and confirmed’. Thanking everyone who has collaborated on this project, António Ponte recalled the importance of the patronage support and the Dr José de Figueiredo Circle - Friends of the Soares dos Reis National Museum.

As this is an award among peers, the Museum of the Year Award ‘acquires even greater significance and relevance, reflecting the recognition of the work that has been carried out over the last few years, especially after the complete reopening of the Museum’.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum was also awarded the Partnership Prize for the Art and Health Programme, developed in partnership with the University Hospital Centre of Porto, with the patronage of the António Manuel da Mota Foundation. This programme is aimed at the community of users, companions, carers and health professionals of one of the most populous entities in the Museum's ‘neighbouring’ territory: the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto, made up of Hospital Santo António; Centro Materno Infantil do Norte Albino Aroso; Centro de Genética Médica Jacinto de Magalhães, Centro Integrado de Cirurgia de Ambulatório and Hospital Magalhães Lemos.

Bringing together the most important collection of 19th-century-Portuguese art, the renovated long-term exhibition at the Soares dos Reis National Museum, which opened to the public on 13 April 2023, was built in accordance with the latest standards of accessibility and museum inclusion.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum assumes itself as a plural space for sharing identity and belonging through art and culture, promoting reflection, creativity and contemporary critical thinking based on the collections it holds, conserves, researches and communicates.