The institution, located in Ponta Delgada on the island of São Miguel, announces that ZOOMGUIDE is now available at the Santo André, Arte Sacra, and Azorean Autonomy centers, providing visitors with “a new way to explore” collections and “learn about the pieces on display, practically and with the convenience of mobile technologies.”
The new platform allows visitors to access audio guides in seven languages (Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Japanese), informative texts about the works, and complementary images and videos, all available directly on their device, with additional information about the pieces on exhibit, the institution notes.
Founded in 1876 and opened to the public in 1880, the Carlos Machado Museum features three permanent exhibitions: Natural History, Memory of the Convent, and Sacred Art, set as references in the centers where they are located, forming the basis of the institution’s activity.
On its official website, the Museum highlights that the objects in the collections reflect “the evolution of scientific mindset since its foundation, documenting the interests of the various individuals involved in building its collection, which began to be organized in the 19th century by naturalists and several prestigious intellectuals and social figures from São Miguel.”
This collection has been enriched with new acquisitions and donations.
According to the institution, the Museum’s collection includes Art, Sacred Art, Toys, Costumes, Decorative Arts, Musical Instruments, Stone Species and Archaeology, Regional Ethnography, African Ethnography, Transportation, Photography, Natural History, Medalha, Furniture, and Numismatics.
The Museum also hosts cultural signposts carried out by the Cultural and Intangible Heritage team, which “highlight historical, identity, and cultural factors of the genesis of São Miguel and the Azores,” it is noted further.
The institution’s director, João Paulo Constância, emphasizes on the official website that the Carlos Machado Museum presents itself today as a public service institution “determined to conserve, preserve, and disseminate its vast and rich heritage, foundation, and expression of the identity of an island and wide-sea people.”
The Carlos Machado Museum has three centers that house different collections and exhibitions.
These include the Santo André center, located in the former Convent of Santo André, the Sacred Art Center, located in the former Church of the College, and the Santa Bárbara Center.
