The Museu da Marioneta (Museum of Puppetry) has been located since November 2001 in the Convent of Bernardas in Lisbon, Portugal, establishing itself as the first museum in Portugal entirely dedicated to the interpretation and dissemination of the history of puppetry, covering the history of this art form across the world, presenting the different types of puppets and the different approaches they allow, with special emphasis on Portuguese puppets.
The museum's collection has been gradually extended and diversified, illustrating the different theatrical forms that derive from ancient traditions or emerge from contemporary artistic searches, exploring new forms, new materials and new techniques. This extension was possible only with the participation of different personalities, authors, collectors and puppeteers who, with us, embraced this project, giving their invaluable contribution through the transfer of their estates, to which the Museum gratefully acknowledges.
At first, it was kept tonic accent in the national universe, being able to be proud of integrating one of the most significant and comprehensive collections of Portuguese traditional puppetry.
Since late 2008, the doors were opened to the world with the host, on deposit, the exceptional and vast collection of puppets and masks of Southeast Asia and Africa of the collector Francisco Capelo.
Convent of Bernardas
The Museum is housed in the Convent of Bernardas, classified as a Public Interest. The convent was founded in 1653, by permission of King John IV of Portugal, as being a cloistered closed in 1655.
On the occasion of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the building was almost completely destroyed. Its reconstruction began in 1758 under the architect Giacomo Azzolini.
In 1786 the convent returned to religious use, and it remained as such until 1834, when the religious orders were dissolved and their property expropriated.
The former convent was successively leased, being acquired in 1850 by Joaquim Lopes Chamber who installed a College.
A succession of occupations, from Polytechnic High School, movie theater, shows, philharmonic concerts, and housing its most recent role.
In 1998, with the property in deep degradation, it was acquired by the Lisbon City Council, making the recovery and rehabilitation from November 1999 until July 2001.
Currently the former convent houses 34 families, a community center, a restaurant and the Museu da Marioneta.
History
The museum was created in 1987 by the São Lourenço Puppet Company that was dedicated to the realization of traveling shows across the country and the foreigner.
It was created thus the first Portuguese space dedicated to puppetry, from the extinction of the Bairro Alto Theatre in 1755, continuing a Portuguese tradition of theater and opera.
The existence of a Portuguese tradition of theater and puppet opera, very important in the history of European theater, represented by the historical repertoire of operas for puppet António José da Silva, the Jew, and the popular repertoire of numerous street companies of puppeteers that the over the centuries traveled the country.
The Society of St. Lawrence, founded by José Alberto Gil, musician, and Helena Vaz, puppeteer and artist, raised as a result of its activity, several copies of puppets that formed the initial core of the museum.
The property degradation it was in the private management of the Museum and the lack of support or institutional subsidies made it difficult economic viability and the maintenance of a project that, over 13 years, Lisbon represented on the international circuit of marionette.
The importance of the collection and the fact that it is the only museum of its kind in Portugal led to the signing of an agreement between the owner of the original collection and the Lisbon City Council, through the EGEAC municipal company, which allowed the maintenance of this museum and its transfer in 2001 to a space that allows its public enjoyment in conditions of dignity it deserves.
In 2007/2008, the Museum of Puppetry has undergone rehabilitation and expansion works under an application to the operational POC-Cultural Program, which allowed the creation of appropriate conditions for exhibitions and shows, the expansion of the permanent exhibition circuit, the store installation in a new space, larger and more suitable for the reception of visitors.
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performance is also known as a puppet production. The script for a puppet production is called a puppet play. Puppeteers use movements from hands and arms to control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer sometimes speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, while at other times they perform to a recorded soundtrack.
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms of theatres or entertainment venues. They have also been used in films and on television. The attachment of the strings varies according to its character or purpose.
Bunraku is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance: the Ningyōtsukai or Ningyōzukai (puppeteers), the tayū (chanters), and shamisen musicians. Occasionally other instruments such as taiko drums will be used. The combination of chanting and shamisen playing is called jōruri and the Japanese word for puppet is ningyō. It is used in many plays.
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Belém is a freguesia and district of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Belém is located in western Lisbon, to the west of Ajuda and Alcântara and directly east of Lisbon's border with Oeiras. Belém is famous as a museum district, as the home of many of the most notable monuments of Lisbon and Portugal alike, such as the Belém Tower, the Jerónimos Monastery, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, and Belém Palace. The population in 2011 was 16,528.
The Center for Puppetry Arts, located in Atlanta, is the United States' largest organization dedicated to the art form of puppetry. The center focuses on three areas: performance, education and museum. It is one of the few puppet museums in the world. The center is located in Midtown, the city's arts district. It was founded in 1978 by Vincent Anthony.
The Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a former Catholic convent located in the civil parish of Santa Maria Maior, municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. The medieval convent was ruined during the sequence of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and the destroyed Gothic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the southern facade of the convent is the main trace of the great earthquake still visible in the old city.
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A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer often speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, and then synchronizes the movements of the puppet's mouth with this spoken part. The actions, gestures and spoken parts acted out by the puppeteer with the puppet are typically used in storytelling. Puppetry is a very ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made from a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They range from very simple in construction and operation to very complex.
Tejo Power Station is a cultural centre that presents the evolution of energy with a Museum of Science and Industrial Archaeology concept, where themed and experimental exhibits live side by side with a great variety of cultural events. Located in the Belém area on terrain Lisbon usurped from the Tagus river at the end of the 19th century, in one of the city's areas with the greatest concentration of historical monuments where one can find, among others, the Jerónimos Monastery, the Belém Cultural Centre, the Tower of Belém, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the Portuguese Presidential Palace and Museum, the Coach Museum or the Cordoaria Nacional . A building classified as a Public Interest Project, the Electricity Museum unfolds along the perimeter of the old thermoelectric plant – the Tejo Power Station, which illuminated the city of Lisbon for more than four decades.
Mamulengo is a type of puppet performance popular in North East Brazil, especially in the state of Pernambuco. The origin of the name is unclear, but it is believed that it originated with the Portuguese phrase mão molenga, meaning "soft hand", ideal for giving lively movements to a puppet.
The Museu Nacional do Azulejo, occasionally known in English as the National Tile Museum, is an art museum in Lisbon, Portugal dedicated to the azulejo, traditional tilework of Portugal and the former Portuguese Empire, as well as of other Iberophone cultures. Housed in the former Madre de Deus Convent, the museum's collection is one of the largest of ceramics in the world.
The Opera dei Pupi is a marionette theatrical representation of Frankish romantic poems traditionally performed in Sicily, Italy.
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry (BIMP) is a public museum of puppetry operated by the University of Connecticut and located in Storrs, Connecticut.
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The Antonio Pasqualino International Puppet Museum of Palermo operates in the field of national and international, traditional and contemporary puppetry.
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