The Aristides de Sousa Mendes Museum is officially inaugurated today, July 19th, 2024, at Casa do Passal, in Cabanas de Viriato (Carregal do Sal, Portugal), once the family home of the former Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, France, in a ceremony chaired by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The scientific research, content selection and writing of the texts for the new museum were coordinated by IHC – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST researcher Cláudia Ninhos.

‘Transforming the information contained in the documentation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and many other archives, the almost unpublished documentation of the Sousa Mendes family archive, into synthesised information, easily understood by any visitor, was a huge challenge, as it requires knowledge that we historians don’t have,’ the researcher confided in an interview with the Institute of Contemporary History.

The project, which even led Cláudia Ninhos to take a postgraduate course in Museology, took several years to materialise. The permanent exhibition focuses on the humanitarian action carried out by the consul during World War II, allowing us to understand Casa do Passal as a ‘place of memory’ and as a space for the social and political construction of its protagonist.

Find out more about the ‘powerful and significant’ story with ‘enormous transformative potential’ that this museum tells here.

Tomorrow, July 20th, the museum will be open to the public, with a programme that includes a guided tour, a musical moment, the show ‘Ecos do Passal’ (Echoes of Passal’), a tribute to Aristides de Sousa Mendes and several homages. Check the full 3-day programme in the carroussel below.