The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture admitted that the Bettencourt Palace in Angra do Heroísmo, which houses the Luís da Silva Ribeiro Public Library and Regional Archive, might be turned into a museum as the library will be "soon" transferred to the new facilities.
 
"The project will have to be properly considered and planned," said Avelino Meneses, who spoke Friday at the end of the donation ceremony of Cândido Pamplona Forjaz's archives to Luís da Silva Ribeiro Public Library and Regional Archives.
 
"This is a historical building in the city of Angra do Heroísmo that has seen the emergence of the Museum. For several decades, it has housed the Public Library and Regional Archives and, now, we [the Government] want to ensure a future and a new function.
 
According to the government official, the solution for this building located in the city centre might include turning it into a museum, "using, for example, the porcelain, furniture and painting collections of Angra do Heroísmo Museum or, eventually, those belonging to other collectors."
 
With this project, we will be able to turn "this beautiful 18th century palace into a museum house that will tell a piece of the history of Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira and the Azores," added the government official.
 
Before the implementation of the newly announced project, the Bettencourt Palace will house part of the services of the Regional Secretary for Education and Culture that are currently installed at Paços da Junta Geral; the latter will be subject to improvement and renewal interventions.
 
Moreover, the Regional Secretary stressed the importance of the donation of Cândido Pamplona Forjaz's estate by his family. According to government official, "he was a relevant personality in the political and scholar sphere on the island of Terceira and in the Azores in the past century."
 
Avelino Meneses also conveyed his "hope" that "the gesture of Forjaz family may be repeated by other families not only on Terceira but also on the remaining islands" in order to preserve archives that "are extremely important to the construction of our collective history."
 
According to Avelino Meneses, the right place of these collections is "an archive and not in our homes."
 
The documentary estate, which includes more than fifty file boxes, is of considerable intellectual and heritage significance. It comprises the active life of Cândido de Menezes Pamplona Forjaz de Lacerda between the 1930s and 1980s. He was a teacher and dean of Angra do Heroísmo Secondary School. Moreover, he served as Member of the National Assembly, President of the Administrative Council of Angra do Heroísmo District, Governor of Angra do Heroísmo, Director of "Diário Insular" newspaper and Chairman of Angra do Heroísmo Port Authorities. Cândido Pamplona Forjaz was also a journalist, writer and speaker.