“While the walls of the Museum are not being raised, the collection is being formed. How do objects arrive at the Museum? What objects are these? What stories do they tell?”, here are some of the questions that the online session “A Museum before the Museum” intended to answer.
As a proof of vitality, the Tikvah Lisbon Jewish Museum joined the celebration of the International Museum Day on the 18th of May. The work of selection, investigation and conservation of the collection of the future museum was addressed, “uncovering a little the veil of narratives” that the museum will make known in the future. At the age of 76, Esther Mucznik is in charge of the quick operations of the Jewish museum in Lisbon, which will no longer be in Alfama but in Belem.
The name Hope (Tikvah) was given by Daniel Libeskind, the architect who created the project, who believes that architecture is a humanist discipline based on history and tradition. His partner in Portugal is the architectural practice Saraiva + Associados, and it is hoped that the Tikva Museum will open in 2024.
According to the Tikva Museu Judaico Lisboa website, the museological programme consists of a permanent exhibition which will be complemented by temporary exhibitions. The permanent exhibition has two parts: Jewish culture and traditions, A historic route organised chronologically and thematically with 5 nuclei, Jewish Culture and Traditions, Historic Signs, A Time of Cohabitation, A Time of Intolerance, The Jewish-Portuguese Diaspora, Contemporary Resurgence.
