Description of the attraction
The Regional Archaeological Museum was founded in 1918. In June 2007, the museum moved to a new, purpose-built building in the center of Braga. The museum's collection includes artifacts from archaeological sites dating from the Paleolithic era to the Middle Ages. The Regional Archaeological Museum is also called the Diego de Sousa Museum.
Diego de Sousa was the archbishop and prominent politician of Braga in the 16th century. He did a lot for the city, turning the medieval town into an ideal city of the Renaissance: he expanded streets, built squares and new churches, founded hospitals, and reconstructed the city's Cathedral. Also, the archbishop was fond of antiques. Diego de Sousa initiated the creation of the museum in order to protect the archaeological heritage of Braga, but the museum was created only at the beginning of the twentieth century and was named the Museum of Art History and Archeology.
The museum worked irregularly, and only in 1980 the museum began to work permanently and was renamed the Regional Archaeological Museum. Since that time, the museum has focused its activities on the protection of local and regional archaeological heritage, as well as on holding exhibitions.
The museum exhibits are located in four halls. In the first room, visitors can see a collection of objects from the Paleolithic era to the Bronze Age. In the second and third halls of the exposition, they tell about the development of Bracar Augusta, a Roman settlement that later became the city of Braga. In the fourth room, you can see in more detail the objects of religious art of the early medieval, Romanesque and Gothic periods.
