European Standards Map

Portugal

EMII gratefully acknowledges the help of the following people in Portugal:

Isabel Cordeiro, Institute of Portuguese Museums
Inês Freitas, Institute of Portuguese Museums

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National Overview

The Portuguese Association of Museology (APOM), an independent association of museum professionals, defines a museum as:

'an institution that serves the community, integrates, catalogues, researches, protects and divulges cultural goods with an educational aim.'

The Instituto de Português Museus (IPM) defines a museum in a broader way using 14 cumulative criteria drawn from ICOM's definition:

1. Having the collection catalogued, at least to a basic level.
2. Having security systems (theft and fire).
3. Having at least one exhibition room.
4. Having rooms to other functions that not exhibition.
5. Having at least one of the following social areas: cafeteria, shop, library or documentation centre.
6. Having permanent workers (at least one with university level education)
7. Having an organized and autonomous annual budget.
8. Facilities must not be temporary.
9. Being open at a regular schedule (may be seasonal or permanent).
10. Cooperating with other institutions ( at least one of the following , publicizing the collections, research and development, marketing and advertising).
11. Having some editorial activity.
12. Having at least one visitor oriented activity. (at least one of the following, changing of the permanent exhibition, one temporary exhibition organized and produced by the museum, one temporary exhibition not produced by the museum, a conference or seminary, a performing arts show, others).
13. Giving information on the area cultural itineraries.
14. Having an organized Educational Department.

The activities of Portugese museums are formally governed by the Portuguese Institute of Museums Internal-Law, Decree-Law no 368-99 of October 13, 1999. This sets out the responsibilities of the IPM within the Portuguese museum community and defines its internal organization. In addition there is also the Cultural Heritage Law, Decree-Law no 13/85 of 1985. This legislation defines what may be considered as National Heritage, (portable and non-portable), levels of classification and legal implications attached. A new Basic-Law for Cultural Heritage is due to be presented to Parliament and voted during 2000.

The partner estimated that 50% (or less) of Portugese museums comply with the ICOM Code of Professional Ethics although in principle the profession does comply with ICOM ethical philosophy.

The body responsible for co-ordinating documentation within Portugal is the Institute of Portuguese Museums IPM, a public entity under the Ministry of Culture that, since 1992, has administered 28 museums distributed throughout Portugal, including collections of Art, Decorative Art, Archaeology and Ethnography (Decree-Law n 368-99 of October 13). Within the scope of its responsibilities, the IPM implements a museum policy that aims to safeguard and publicise Portuguese cultural heritage (excluding built heritage).

For the purposes of this survey the partner considered the total number of institutions that qualify as museums as 530 with collections totalling an estimated 5,303,048 objects.

The ratio of public museums versus private owned and run museums is 319 to 211. In Portugal a museum is considered public or private depending on its legal/jurisdictional status. Public museums can be defined as:

'Museums dependent and funded by public funds being them central, regional or local administration funds.'

And private museums as:

'Non state funded being them private associations, foundations, church, companies, church, private individuals.'
(They may receive grants or non regular support from the state)

Categories of Public Museums

Categories of Private Museums

Others: Zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and natural parks that have a museological section.

Source: Questionnaire on Museums and Museum Nucleii Instituto Português de Museus and Observatorio das Actividades Culturais, 1998. Report published March 2000.

Employment

There are 3217 people are in full time (more than 35 hours per week) employment in Portugese museums, 393 in part-time paid employment and a further 339 people work on a voluntary basis.

Information Management

Percentage of cultural heritage held in Museums that is:

159 museums record object information digitally all within institutional databases.

For documented collections, what percentage is:

(1) To national minimum standard where one exists or international alternative. (2) Catalogued beyond national minimum standard.

In Portugal there are detailed national documentation guidelines. The IPM, Registration and Cataloguing Department, is responsible for setting museum documentation standards and making them accessible to all museums, public or private, that may be interested in using them. The IPM has produced a standard cataloguing form, where all the information necessary for documenting a museum object in detail may be recorded.

The IPM has developed, within a partnership with a private company, software for cataloguing and managing information on museum objects (Matriz). The structure of this database complies with international standards such as the Getty Standards Program (Categories for the Description of Works of Art) and the CIDOC Guidelines for Museum Object Information. Within this project, and to facilitate digitisation. The IPM has produced a Users Manual to facilitate manual and digital documentation. The Institute is also publishing guidelines for cataloguing different types of objects. Already published:

• General Guidelines for Documenting Museum Collections / Decorative and Fine Arts
• Guidelines for Documenting Museum Collections / Textiles
• Guidelines for Documenting Museum Collections / Tiles

More titles will be published during the year 2000.

Images and Multimedia

12 Portugese museums have published a total of 12 CD-Roms. A further 23 have interactive gallery systems.

Percentage of museums with digital images of all or part of their collections:

Digital images were produced for the following purposes:

Partners Comment: These statistics refer to the following items: Collection Management, Publication of Exhibition Catalogues, General Publications, Research, Publicity, Multimedia, Security and Others. Where possible the Portugese partner has adapted their classification to the above. The zero figure against CD-ROM Publishing and Education is due to the fact that this is not recorded as a separate category for statistical purposes. However, images are produced for these purposes. In addition, it should be noted that the Portugese statistics refer to the production of images in general, including digital and non-digital images. All images are first produced and distributed as color transparencies, some of which may be digitized at a later date. The table refers to colour transparencies and therefore represents the potential total of digital images rather than the actual.

A national plan for digital imaging is taking place through the Division of Photography of the IPM. This Division produces images of all national relevant collections. The objective is to create an image database that will contain all the images produced by the division over the last decade. These images refer to portable heritage and include the most important objects in Portuguese collections, not only museums (public or private) but also private collections. All 28 IPM museums have their images produced by this division. Beside this national initiative, museums especially the local ones, are including images in their collections databases on an individual basis. Individual initiatives to digitise specific collections are also taking place, for example: Lisbon Municipality, Mário Soares Foundation and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Museums and the Internet

76 museums have Internet access for Web browsing and email, and 119 have Web sites of which 84 can be described as brochureware and 35 include some educational content. There are currently no museum databases on-line but 1 museum is planning to go on-line by December 2000. Beyond this there is little confirmed information available in Portugal on this subject. Intentions have been expressed but little has materialised to date. The IPM museums are discussing how this access should be provided and what level of access is desirable and appropriate for the general public. The exception is the Portuguese Institute of Archaeology (IPA), their database, Endovelicus, of archaeological sites and related objects will be online before December 2000.

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International, National and Regional Initiatives

We asked partners to describe current or recently completed international initiatives to facilitate remote access to cultural hertiage information. These can include participation in professional working groups and other EC funded projects.

• Initiative details

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Procedural Standards

Partners Comments: Portuguese museums that are digitizing their collections are acquainted with international guidelines and standards of collections management such as the CIDOC (Guidelines for the Description of Objects of Art) or ICONCLASS or AAT that they try to adapt to their own procedures or specificity of their collections.

Nevertheless, since this presents several difficulties, museums often ask for assistance to the IPM, the institution of Central Administration who has the obligation to divulge general procedures for classification of collections, standards and guidelines for portable heritage inventory and cataloguing. The need to divulge these guidelines in the various fields of collections management amongst museums belonging to the Ministry of Culture but also to all the other museums, has been defined as a priority of action which has determined the definition of several publications aimed to collection classification methods but also concerning procedures in cataloguing, handling and care, conservation, storage and circulation guidelines, some of which have already been published and others being elaborated with museum professionals, and will be published during the next three years.

We also asked what Collections Management Software is in use:

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Information Management Standards

We asked about:

• Content and Resource description standards including term lists, Classification Syatems and Thesauri
• Content and Structure Description Standards
• Technological Standards and Protocols

Content and Resource Description Standards

Partners Comments: In this particular area we feel that collaboration with other institutions that have a wider experience and production in this area will be very important in order to ensure a better access and provide wider information dissemination in Portuguese museums.

There is a strong need to promote other tools, namely vocabularies, thesauri and term lists. In this particular area we feel that collaboration with other institutions that have a wider experience and production in this area will be very important in order to ensure a better access and provide wider information dissemination in Portuguese museums.

Term lists in use include:

• Normas de Inventário - Artes Plasticas Artes Decorativas with 55 terms in use in 100 museums including: Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Museu Nacional Soares Reis, Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro, Museu do Chiado, Museu de Évora

• Normas de Inventário - Cerâmica de Revestimento with 86 terms and in use 70 museums including Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Museu da Cidade de Lisboa, Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro, Museu de Lamego, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Casa Museu Frederico de Freitas, Museu Lapidar Infante D. Henrique, Museu Rainha D. Leonor

• Vocabulário Têxtil with 396 terms in use in an estimated 50 museums including: Museu Nacional do Traje, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Museu Francisco Tavares Proença Júnior, Museu de Lamego, Museu Nacional do Teatro, Museu Romantico, Casa dos Patudos, Museu de S. Braz de Alportel, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

• Normas de Inventário - Têxteis with 57 terms in use in 70 museums including: Museu Nacional do Traje, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Museu Francisco Tavares Provença Júnior, Museu de Lamego, Museu Nacional do Teatro, Museu Romantico, Casa dos Patudos, Museu do Tesouro da Sé de Lisboa, Museu do Tesouro da Sé de Braga

• Ourivesaria / Joalharia (lexico base) with 180 terms in use in an estimated 50 museums. This is an in-house standard for the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. The museum is not able to give the number of objects documented in accordance to this standard.

Classification systems include:

• Vocabulary of Basic Terms for Cataloguing Costume, ICOM Costume Committee is used in 10 museums including the Museu Nacional do Traje Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga Museu da Fundao Ricardo Esprito Santo Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

• Iconclass, Revised Nomenclature and the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) were recently acquired by the IPM for its 28 museums.

Content and Structure Description Standards

Museums are not generally aware of these standards, therefore they are not being followed in a systematic way. Although there is awareness of the developments in metadata standards for museums, Portuguese museums are not employing any as yet.

Bibliographic Description Standards in use:

Partners Comment: These numbers were extrapolated from a smaller sample of museums that included precise numbers for these standards. Electronic publications were not considered, therefore numbers are unknown. The same applies to the number of resources in cartographic publications. It is estimated that the MARC Format is used in 144 museums. AACR2 is not used in Portugal. ISAD (G) is known but not used is Portugal.

Technological Standards and Protocols

119 museums have Web sites all of them created using HTML.110 museums have an estimated 233,000 digital images in JPEG format, the standard along with MPEG determined by the IPM for use by its museums. Z39.50 has not yet been implemented by any museum or museum organization in Portugal. The partner was not able to supply information on technological standards and protocols for the protection of intellectual property.

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Future Vision

The Portugese response to our question:

'Please use this space to describe ways in which you consider EMII should develop to provide a value added resource to museums in your country. Feel free to address any aspect of our current remit or to propose new roles. You may be as detailed as you like and include references to publications, Web sites, iniatives etc. Whilst we are developing our vision for EMII's future activities we also want to ensure that we capture your needs and concerns.'

The Portuguese Institute of Museums (IPM) is at present in charge of establishing a network of co-operation between Portuguese museums. With this task came the need to launch a questionnaire to all Portuguese museums and self-called museums, in order to characterise them and their regular practices.

The report that resulted from this questionnaire, was recently published by the IPM and gives us detailed information that will be fundamental to define a national policy for Portuguese museums and at the same time proceed with the construction of the Portuguese Network of Museums (RPM).

The next step will be to define in what terms the Portuguese Network of Museums will be established, as well as what role the most active, well equipped and better financed museums will have in the process of qualification of a larger number of museums. We thus feel that this Network will have to be decentralised, transversal to the various typologies of museums and collections and profoundly articulated with the activities, expectations and needs of their communities, through a self conscious awareness of its role at a national, regional or local level.

One of the main objectives of the RPM will be to divulge criteria that will regulate the creation of museums in order to avoid the proliferation of "museological situations" that in truth are no more than "collections", "traditions" or "legacies", but tend to identify themselves as being museums.

Another goal will be to qualify institutions that already exist, through the establishment of several networks of mutual help, in order to help a greater number of museums to acquire the minimal conditions for safeguard and fruition of their collections and at the same time be in accordance with national and international requirements in what concerns venues, research of collections, human resources, budget and activities for the public.

In this context, IPM participation in EMII institutionalisation acquires an enormous relevance, due to the opportunities it represents to achieve the following goals:

1. To compare models, theories and experiences in other countries concerning their museum structure and networks;
2. To establish communication interfaces and to improve the institutional relationship between IPM and institutions that proceed identical objectives, in what concerns museums and collections management;
3. To define through EMII a possibility of liaison between the Portuguese Network of Museums and other European networks of museums. The fact that EMII gathers the participation of major institutions that are concerned with the same issues at a national and international level, represents for the first time to us a project where we identify ourselves and where we find the right partners for a larger discussion about our major concerns regarding the constitution of the Network of Portuguese Museums;
4. The participation of IPM in EMII, and through it, also of Portuguese museums, since IPM will act as a core disseminating of the information on the issues debated within EMII partners, amongst Portuguese museums, but will also allow Portuguese issues to be presented in this forum, thus enabling a rich and most valuable true interchange of experiences, development of projects, crossing the areas of museum activities;
5. In what concerns collections management, in particular in the field of digitisation and standards procedures, the improved access to information and communication between reference institutions that the EMII enables, makes it a true added value;
6. To contribute for the development of scientific research in the area of museum studies, with a cross-reference with all the scientific areas represented by museum collections. Fundamental will be deepen studies and practices in the areas of museological requalification, exhibition design, documentation, curatorship, conservation, restoration and dissemination of movable cultural heritage;
7. To develop the communication between museums through a systematic diffusion of projects and public activities.

These benefits resume the uniqueness of the EMII project and the possibilities that its future implementation represents in terms of a wider access and debate of all the European institutions with responsibilities in museum and collections management.

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Funded by the European Commission -Education and Culture Directorate-General - Raphaël Programme

Created on 07 July 2000