the case study

Archaeological museum of carmo

The action proposes as a pilot case study the Archaeological Museum of Carmo – Museu Arqueológico do Carmo (MAC), in Lisbon (Portugal). The ruins of the convent of Carmo currently hosts the MAC, which gathers historical, archeological and artistic assets from the prehistory to the contemporary era. The building belongs and is managed by the Portuguese Archaeologists Association – Associação dos Arqueólogos Portugueses (AAP).

The church of Carmo was built in 1389, promoted by the kingdom’s constable, D. Nuno Álvares Pereira. It is located at the opposite hill from the Castle of S. Jorge. The church was always a landmark of the city of Lisbon, due to its impressive size and monumental character. In 1755, the devastating Lisbon earthquake and the subsequent earthquake almost completely destroyed the building. The reconstruction works began in 1756, but they were never completed, leading to the current romantic state of ruin of the church. The ruins of Carmo are an impressive open space that also became a memorial of the 1755 earthquake.

The ruins and museum of Carmo are a major tourist attraction of the city and received thousands of visitors during the year. One of the main objectives of the project is to develop an augmented reality application that will be implemented in the case study.

Case study gallery

Project team

The team includes highly trained professionals from different fields: architects, civil engineers, telecommunication engineers, archaeologists, art historians, and geophysicists. The project involves four participant institutions from three different countries: University of Minho (Portugal), the Spanish National Research Council and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain), and the Italian National Research Council (Italy). Full list of the project team here. The project has the support of the Archaeological Museum of Carmo, in Lisbon (Portugal), which is the outstanding project case study. The project is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Contact us

You can contact the project coordinator, Javier Ortega, at the Institute for Sustainability in Structural Engineering (ISISE), University of Minho (UMinho) – Campus de Azurém, Guimarães 4800-058, Portugal, but you can contact other team members:

Margarita González Hernández, at the Spanish National Research Council – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC).

Miguel Ángel García Izquierdo, at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM).

Nicola Masini, at the Italian National Research Council – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR).