Museu da Carris reopens renovated with a replica of the original entrance of the Bica elevator
The temporary reservation of the museum in December due to the pandemic was the excuse for Carris to carry out two in its exhibition space at the Santo Amaro Station: to remove the assets of the Metropolitano de Lisboa that was no longer on site – and which at the moment is not available. In the sense due to the fact that the two companies are no longer managed by the same shareholder (Carris passed to the sphere of the Lisbon Chamber in 2017) – and to renovate the space, adding pieces to the exhibition.
The Carris Museum was scheduled for February 30, but will only reopen tomorrow. Portugal. As for the novelties, they will change the location between the Educational Service and the store, which will be next to the ticket offices, but will also go through new exhibition points in Nucleus I of the museum. “We are going to put the turnstiles, already, that were in the Ascensor da Bica, and we are going to export its original sign. With this we are going to recreate a scenically mounted area, which recalls the entrance of the elevator, in which we will invite the visitor to take selfies”. We will also have, in this area, a touch screen for the visitor to make a virtual visit to the museum itself, which is something that we have been explaining on our website since 2020 and that you can now do inside the museum”, Ema Favila Vieira, secretary general of the Carris, to DN, adding that it will further improve the exposure of the company uniforms.
“In the themed rooms we will have another space that is the representation of a barbershop. In the past, it was one of the services that we were here at Santo Amaro Station”, consult Miguel Sousa, responsible for the Carris Museum, adding that this space will join representation of administrative spaces, the medical center and Banda da Carris.
One of the great successes among visitors is the fact that a connection between the two centers of the museum is made on a tram trip. “There are many people who ride a tram for the first time here at the museum. On top of that, the atmosphere of the first trams is recreated, from 1901, I believe, when we inaugurated the first career”, recalls Ema Favila Vieira. And here you will also expect a novelty, with the assembly of a stop at the end of the first nucleus, where people will be able to sit and at least.
Nucleus II comprises the exhibition of old and electric buses that are part of Carris’ history. “There will be no news here, but much to learn, the fact that there are trams with nicknames such as Palhinhas”, “Boi Caixote” or “Boi Caixote” or “the fact that some buses have the rear in the cause of Lisbon’s news ” . All of them will be on display at the museum. “The visit is very interactive. People can enter, sometimes they see the engines running, they beep, it’s a unique experience”, says Joana Gomes, coordinator of the Educational Service at the Carris Museum, to DN. “For example, for example, the Boi the 801, but it ended up being called to the entire fleet of which only ten cars, which are from 1939. read letters and then said “there comes the Boi” and as there were only ten cars always who saw an 800 said they were the Boi”, says the same official.
About 8% of the works by visitors to the Museum of Schools, which led to a larger service school “Of the remaining 20%, most are tourists. sometimes more and more families visiting us”, says Miguel Sousa.
Before the pandemic, this museum space received an average of 20 to 25 thousand visitors a year. “We hope that soon we will be able to reach the numbers we had, which seems to me to be easily attainable. But what seems, in the space of a visitor, more than 20% in relation to the number”, adds the museum official.
Renewed educational service
The first major sign of the redoubled commitment to the educational service is its move to a larger space, moving a museum store, thus moving it to Nucleus II.
“As we are doing a remodeling, also in typography, we discovered a lot of material, namely zinc engravings. Therefore, we will have a new workshop only dedicated to the idea of typographic printing, as if it were stamp/engraving, which is a novelty in the program”, says Joana Gomes, coordinator of the Educational Service at the Carris Museum.
But the big bet will be on the senior public that, according to Joana Gomes, is the favorite of the museum’s guides, “probably even more than children”. “They love visiting the museum because they have a very strong relationship with the history of the museum and they always give us a great contribution”, says the same official.
It is precisely this factor of the contribution of the elderly that is one of the novelties of the reopening. ” create a new activity with seniors in the logic of using our photographic archive, we will have more pieces on display in terms of whether they are the public related to these photos. of the city” and it is an idea of a gathering among seniors, in which they tell us how and we will try the images that, according to these stories, reproduce as memories. Joana Gomes. The testimonies of the study in these gatherings were published on the website.
In relation to the younger audience, the traditional book with the history of Carris, folding and with pop-upsit will be updated to a giant version (larger than an A3), easier for children to handle and which will already have the new features of the museum’s exhibition.
Celebrating 150 years
Carris turns 150 on September 18, but the celebrations will be marked with various initiatives throughout the year. The highlight is the traditional Classics Parade, which takes place on the company’s anniversary week and during which several trams and buses from the Carris Museum take to the streets of Lisbon. The parade is open to the public, and there is a limit on registrations, compatible with the capacity of the vehicles.
“We are going to have a set of objects portrayed here for publicity. A set of images for the general public. We are going to have another set of objects for publicity here. little bit the more emotional side of what is transported by Carris and the relationship with Lisbon”, explains Ema Favila Vieira, the company’s general secretary.
Carris is also articulating with the Lisbon City Council the choice of location for a street photographic exhibition with two removable billboards, which will serve to illustrate the company’s history.