The Museum as a Space of Historical Memory: Famalicão as an Educating City

Abstract

This article describes how the project “De Famalicão para o Mundo: Contributos da História Local” was developed and implemented, as well as its local, national, and international projection through different community activities that promote citizen learning. The study focuses on the heritage and local history of Vila Nova de Famalicão, a municipality in the north of Portugal. It presents a museum network that brings together multidisciplinary work teams consisting of teachers, researchers, students, and cultural technicians who participate and are involved in tasks related to the memory, identity, and history of the territory. My work shows both the use of these museological practices and the cultural impact they have on different audiences. Alongside these experiences, the historical and literary narratives of the temporary exhibitions—such as the one dedicated to the Portuguese forced labourers in the Nazi concentration system (1939-1945)—expose the reflections on how the citizens of Famalicão participated and were caught up in this conflict. In this way, museums allow us to interpret not only the painful past, but also the identity awareness of past and present history.