The permanent exhibition of the Angra do Heroísmo Museum will reopen to the public during the first half of 2011 with a new setting and a new museological message.
The announcement was made by the Regional Director of Culture on Tuesday during a visit to the construction site of the exhibition that he preferred to designate “long term” rather than “permanent” as museological messages “are not static.”
In an area of about 300 square meters, the exhibition, generically titled as “From the Sea and Land - A History of the Atlantic,” is divided into four prominent periods in the history of Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira and of the Azores in general.
“Knowledge of the Islands” is the title of the first space which comprises the issues related to the early settlement and geographic location; the second, titled “Angra, the Azores and the World” primarily focuses on the implementation and life experiences in that city.
A third moment is dedicated to the historical period from the time of the Captaincy-General to the Liberal period whilst the fourth space, titled “The Development of the Contemporary,” covers themes from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century until the present, with particular emphasis on themes related to the autonomy and the recovery of geostrategy.
On the occasion, Jorge Paulus Bruno also announced that the Regional Directorate of Culture plans to launch in 2011 the public call for tenders for the renewal works of the old  Boa Nova Church, located the on the other side of the city where the Baptista de Lima Military History Centre will be installed.
The construction of new premises for the units of Santa Maria and São Jorge, and the renewal of the Santo André Convent at the Carlos Museum in Ponta Delgada, whose exhibition will be opened to the public with an “entirely new” setting are others interventions already planned for the redevelopment of the regional network of museums.
In addition to the exhibition of the Angra do Heroísmo Museum, the exhibitions of the Wine Museum in Madalena Pico, the São Boaventura Convent and of the Whaling Factory in Boqueirão at the Flores Museum will also be opened in 2011.
The Regional Director also reminded that in the context of the renewal of equipments and exhibitions, which is being undertaken by the Government of the Azores, the works of the “Recolhimento de Santa Bárbara” at the Carlos Machado Museum and of the Graciosa Museum have already been opened in 2010.