Armed Forces Museum

The museum's collection includes twin-engine planes, combat vehicles, various weapons and artefacts used during the War of Independence and the Civil War, including a bust of the war leader and first President of the Republic of Angola, Agostinho Neto.

In the museum you can also find several statues that decorated avenues and squares in colonial Luanda and that were removed after independence, namely that of Diogo Cão, the first European to set foot on Angolan soil, that of Paulo Dias de Novais, the founder of the city of Luanda, that of Vasco da Gama, the discoverer of the sea route to India, and that of Luís de Camões, the greatest poet in the Portuguese language, among others.

Chronology*
1575 – Paulo Dias de Novais disembarks in Luanda as governor, and immediately orders the construction of a fortress to protect the bay;
1625 – King Philip III orders the creation of a commission to study the fortification of the city;
1634 – Construction of a new fortification;
1641 – Attack on the fortification by the Dutch, who occupied it, changing its name to Fort Amsterdam, or according to other sources, Fort Aardenburgh;
1650 – Governor Salvador Correia de Sá e Benevides presented the new fortification plans for Luanda to the Overseas Council, carried out by French engineer Pedro Pelique. The fort, which until the Dutch invasion had been called São Paulo, had its name changed to São Miguel, the saint of Salvador Correia de Sá's devotion.
1669 / 1676 – Reconstruction of the fortress in masonry, during the government of Francisco de Távora, leaving a bastion and two curtains completed;
1697 / 1701 – Construction of the gunpowder house inside the fortress, during the rule of César Meneses;
In 1771, cannons were cast in the fort, this being the only African fort where cannons were cast for its defense.
1876, 15 September – Ordinance creating the Angola Exile Deposit, which was established in the fortress in 1881;
1930 / 1938 – Extinction of the Exile Deposit and abandonment of the fortification;
1938 – Installation of the Angola Museum by the Portuguese government; placement of tile panels in a casemate with scenes from the history of Angola and specimens of fauna and flora;
1938, 8 September – classified as a National Monument, by Ordinance of the then Minister of Colonies, Francisco José Vieira Machado;
1961 – Total removal of the museum’s collection, returning the fortress to assume military functions;
Installation of the Advanced Combat Detachment of the Tancos Parachute Hunters Battalion that had headed to Angola in March 1961, and then the 1st Parachute Hunters Company of the Parachute Hunters Battalion No. 21 remained there , until the creation of the new unit, in Belas (in 1964);
installation of a Military Police Company;
installation of the Chief Command of the Armed Forces of Angola.
1975 – 10 November, last ceremony of lowering the Portuguese Flag in Angola, held at Fortaleza de S. Miguel, in front of the three branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces (Air Force Paratroopers; Navy Fusiliers; Army Cavalry).
1975-1978 – General Staff of the Popular Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA);
1978 – July 31, the Central Armed Forces Museum opens;
1995 – Specific interventions to restore the building
1996 – Included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.
2001/2005 (?) – The fort returns to (partial) military use, being integrated into the defense system in the area of sensitive points in the Angolan capital.
2013 – April 4, the National Museum of Military History opened.