After genuinely looking forward to this visit, I left bitterly disappointed. I don’t want to dissuade anybody else from visiting, because the potential to educate visitors on a topic that is too rarely discussed, is truly valuable. But what I saw today felt like a token gesture, a box ticking exercise. So little effort has been put into the curation of the ‘exhibition’. I share this review in the hope that it will inspire a rethink by the owners of this museum. Let me break this down:
(1) the museum is tiny. I appreciate the fact the historic location means that floor space was always going to be limited, but why the disinterested staff? The cashier on the ground floor somehow forgot to mention that there was a second floor to the museum - at least 3 times as big as the ground floor - but you do have to exit the building entirely and take an exterior staircase upwards that is located on a side street of the building. Even with the second floor though, which some other reviewers have unsurprisingly missed, the layout and delivery of information in the museum does not make efficient use of the floor space at all.
(2) speaking of uninterested staff, neither of the 2 staff members working when I visited had nothing to say or share about the museum - even after I went out of my way to ask questions.I cannot say that they were intentionally rude because such a statement would not be true. But I left the museum feeling as though I had just donated money to yet another tourist trap, because of this. If the people who work at the museum seemingly don’t care about the museum, I’m forced to wonder what my entrance fee is going towards - and what the true motives/intentions of the owners of this museum are. Combined with the size of the museum (see point 1 above) and the limited curation (point 3 below), I have to wonder if this museum is truly an attempt to educate - or if it is a shameless attempt to cash in on tourism.
(3) the curation is poor. The information is limited by floor space availability but even ignoring that fact - there is no flow or narrative to the experience. There is no journey - guests are confronted with random snippets of information without context and unrelated to the exhibits surrounding them (I.e. authentic metal handcuffs, with no information or context of these that were used to physically restrain slaves, right next to an ivory elephant tusk - also with no real information or context). Having visited over 100+ museums in my time, this attempt by this museum to convey and curate information in a meaningful and impactful way easily ranks as the worst I have seen. And with such a sensitive topic matter, this point is extra painful. As another reviewer put it, anybody who has the ability to read will learn more from Wikipedia in 10 mins - compared to the content and offering of this museum. I’m doubly concerned that you haven’t even bothered to have qualified historians contribute to the content of the museum. It is equally apparent that you haven’t asked Portuguese people who hail from African descent, what they feel about about the museum and the casual language the your curators have used to describe one of the biggest atrocities in the history of mankind. Lastly, please consult someone with a formal education in museum curation… they will no doubt relay my my points above in a far more articulate manner. Too many shortcuts have been taken here - and for such a profound topic, please understand that this has the potential to come across as flippant (at best) or disrespectful (at worst).
(4) please work on the tone of delivery. Lauding Prince Henry the Navigator (or whatever his name was) as the bastion of European culture, for Exporting European principles abroad… without a single counter argument anywhere in the museum to suggest that his actions were hugely problematic from many other perspectives (particularly in a museum that is literally named after slavery) is somewhat tone deaf. I saw the same thing done at the Sagres Fortress - I can only assume that he is some sort of national hero then…
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