The Santa Maria Museum, on the island of Santa Maria, is a public institution that consists of five separate buildings – the Santo Espírito and Vila do Porto museum centres, the Reserves, Atlântida Cine and the Quonset huts.
The Santa Maria Museum history began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when José Maria Amaral, the parish priest of Santo Espírito, took the initiative to carry out na extensive collection of ethnographic artefacts from the local community, with the purpose of preserving its memory and cultural identity. The Ethnographic and Parish Museum, as it was called, was installed in an old house next to the church and was opened in the summer of 1972. With the creation of the Ethnographic Houses in 1977, the Regional Government of the Azores acquired the property and the collection, assembled by Father José Maria Amaral, became a deposit in the name of the Parish of Santo Espírito, changing its name to the Ethnographic House of Santa Maria.
As determined by Regional Regulatory Decree No. 40/91/A of 25 November 1991, the previous name was replaced by that of the Santa Maria (Island) Museum, with its own organisational structure and specialist staff, and work began on studying the collections and adapting the building to its new functions. The Santa Maria Museum was inaugurated on 31 August 1996, and its exhibition design represents the island’s main traditional activities, reflected in the crafts, customs and traditions of its people.
In 2017, the Regional Government of the Azores acquired two contiguous buildings within the Historic Zone of Vila do Porto, which were inaugurated on 25 July 2018. The permanent exhibition will focus on the island in its historical and geological context, as the first to be discovered and populated, the gateway to the Azores archipelago, as well as the impact of the airport’s construction, reflected in the social, economic and cultural changes that are evident in the way of life of the people of Vila do Porto.
The Santa Maria Museum includes the Atlântida Cine, or Airport Cinema, which was originally built by the Americans during the construction of Santa Maria Airport in 1944.
The transfer of property rights over the land and infrastructure of Santa Maria Airport to the private domain of the Region resulted from a Resolution of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores and also the responsibility for the rehabilitation and maintenance of key collective, social and cultural facilities, of which the Airport Cinema formed part, having been closed to the public since 2007. In 2018, reconstruction work began on the Atlântida Cine, a structure equipped to host performing arts, cinema and scientific events, which opened on 22 June 2022.
The Santa Maria Museum’s collections are primarily based on ethnographic themes, with a focus on clay as a raw material for the production of domestic utensils, decorative items and building materials, as well as for export to the other islands of the archipelago; this is an element of significant historical importance for the Island of Santa Maria, which became one of the main centres for the extraction, export and production of ceramics in the Azores.
The Museum of Santa Maria, through its collections and the promotion of tangible and intangible heritage, plays a vital role in preserving the identity and memory of the people of Santa Maria, creating the conditions for the public to enjoy these resources and offering a diverse cultural experience to our visitors.
