National Museum of Natural History of Angola

With the purpose of promoting scientific knowledge, being supervised by the Executive and supervised by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment through the National Institute of Cultural Heritage.
Its function is to preserve, through research, biodiversity conservation projects and actions, environmental and heritage education activities and its collection, which covers the areas of zoology, botany, paleontology and natural heritage.
The scientific collections of biological material that it safeguards constitute the testimony and database of knowledge generated by previous research, carried out in the areas of systematics and taxonomy, biology and ecology.
The National Museum of Natural History is located in the center of the capital city of the Republic of Angola, District of Ingombota, Municipality of Luanda, Province of Luanda, being one of the most important institutions dedicated to research and dissemination of natural sciences in the country.

HISTORY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE INSTITUTION

Brief summary
The history of the National Museum of Natural History begins in 1858, when the ordinance signed by Sá da Bandeira created the first museum in the city of Luanda.
The location was chosen over the ruins of an old church “which was once the Cathedral of Luanda”. This building was intended for a meteorological observatory, museum and library.
However, the collection, made up of some varieties of wood, minerals and agricultural products, was not enough to arouse the interest of the more advanced part of the capital and, a few years after its opening, the museum closed its doors and reopened almost a century ago. later under the name of the Angola Museum.

The current facilities of the National Museum of Natural History were built in 1956 to house the then multidisciplinary museum, the Angola Museum, created by Ministerial Ordinance No. 6 of September 8, 1938.
From 1959 to 1974, the Angola Museum was under the direction of the Institute of Scientific Research of Angola – IICA, with the director of the aforementioned institute taking over the management of the Museum.
The Museum comprises a vast heritage, gathered since the creation in 1938 of the Museum of Angola, an organization that until the date of Angola's independence, in 1975, was dedicated to inventorying, classifying, storing and conserving monuments, buildings, works, documents , collections and objects of historical and artistic value existing in Angola.

With the dismemberment of the Museum's collections, after the country's independence, in accordance with the objectives of the Cultural Policy of the Government of the Republic of Angola, the Institution became the National Museum of Natural History in 1976, planning and executing its own activities from of the existing natural heritage, which includes scientific collections of biological material that safeguard and constitute the testimony and database of knowledge generated by research, carried out in the areas of systematics, taxonomy and biology (zoology, botany and geology).
In 1992, the Museum was closed due to construction work given the deteriorating state of its infrastructure and remained in operation for 10 years.
In the expectation of fully fulfilling its role, the Ministry of Culture made every effort to search for possible support for the recovery of the damaged collection, the physical infrastructure and the creation of SIEXPO, in which the aforementioned actions were concluded in 2002, the year in which the doors were reopened to the visiting public.

In 2014, due to the need for another rehabilitation of the Museum, it was closed again under Order nº 1218/14, from the Minister of Culture of May 26th, published in the Official Gazette nº 98 I series.
Having completed the rehabilitation works of the National Museum of Natural History that led to its closure for a temporary period and having created the minimum conditions for reopening aiming at normal operation, the reopening of the National Museum of Natural History to the public was determined under the Order nº 228/16 of the Minister of Culture of 16 September 2016.

DEFINITION OF THE INSTITUTION:
The National Museum of Natural History is governed by Presidential Decree No. 44/11, of March 7, which approves the General Statute of Museums, according to Executive Decree No. 196/13, published in Diário de República I Series – No. 104.
MISSION
The National Museum of Natural History is a scientific and research institution, dedicated primarily to permanent and temporary exhibition work, simultaneously conserving collections of great scientific value, as well as the need to protect and enhance historical - natural heritage.
Another important role of the National Museum of Natural History is environmental education and biodiversity dissemination.
Its contribution to the formal and informal education of national and foreign citizens is relevant, as it can result in responsible behavior by citizens in nature conservation.

Institutional Vision
The National Museum of Natural History aims to be an institution of excellence in faunal research, as well as acting as a depository of Angola's faunal heritage.
Being the only national institution dedicated to the study of fauna, and maintaining reference collections, the Museum has the vision of covering its activity across the entire Angolan territory, with an emphasis on priority conservation areas, that is, habitats and ecosystems with a low level of human disturbance, as well as being present in areas with a high degree of biodiversity and centers of endemism of Angola's fauna.
Ideally, what we want to achieve by fulfilling the mission is that the museum becomes a Center for Discussion of Man's Relationship with the Environment where it is inserted from an interdisciplinary point of view (biology, history, anthropology, ecology, psychology, sociology, architecture and others) from the collections, their documentation and exhibitions.

We therefore intend to design the City of Luanda, the country's capital, with a bold perspective of fusion between science and the city, thus promoting a relationship of proximity, respect and transparency between the local community and the scientific.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INSTITUTION
The National Museum of Natural History's main objectives are biodiversity research, the maintenance of scientific collections, the preservation and conservation of species and natural ecosystems, scientific dissemination, environmental and heritage education and must:
· Improve the care of collections;
· Develop a long-range conservation plan for the collections;
· Improve the maintenance and conservation of the physical space/building;
· Develop a long-range conservation plan for the physical space/building;
· Increase employee awareness regarding concerns and techniques for conserving collections;
· Develop an Environmental and Heritage Education Plan for visitors.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
Currently, the Museum has a total of 27 workers and 10 collaborators distributed across different areas, from Senior Technicians (Specialists), to Basic Technicians and Administrative Staff.
The majority of specialist technicians have a degree in Biology with some continued training in area carried out in the country and abroad.

COLLECTION
The Museum comprises a vast heritage, Zoology is the discipline that forms the Museum's collection, comprising the following groups: Mammalogy, Ornithology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Entomology and Malacology and distributed as follows:
The total number of the biological collection is 1062 specimens divided into the exhibition halls and scientific collection.
In the exhibition halls 729 specimens are on display as per the table above.
The scientific collection has a total of 333 specimens including reptiles, fish , mammals and amphibians from the filling of the Kapanda reservoir and the collection of shells, fish and crustaceans offered by Dr. Chrisfried Schoenherr, with the inventory of shells currently being carried out.
The total number of bibliographic collections is 700 copies at the National Museum of Natural History.
Of these we have around 120 copies, which were donated by the Embassy of Portugal in Angola. Its content portrays Portuguese Literature and History.
Around 580 specimens were acquired by the National Museum of Natural History, which depict Biology and Natural Sciences.

SPACES
The Museum also has spaces for temporary exhibitions and simultaneously preserves collections of great scientific value, as well as the need to protect and enhance Cultural and Natural Heritage and an auditorium for conferences.
Also attached to the Museum there is a Laboratory for carrying out scientific work, a Library, an Archive.

PERMANENT EXHIBITION
The Museum comprises a vast heritage, gathered since the creation in 1938 of the Museum of Angola, an organization that until the date of Angola's independence, in 1975, was dedicated to inventorying, classifying, storing and conserving monuments, buildings, works, documents , collections and objects of historical and artistic value existing in Angola.
With the dismemberment of the Museum's collections, after the country's independence, in accordance with the objectives of the Cultural Policy of the Government of the Republic of Angola, the Institution became the National Museum of Natural History in 1976, planning and executing its own activities from of the existing natural heritage, which includes scientific collections of biological material that safeguard and constitute the testimony and database of knowledge generated by research, carried out in the areas of systematics, taxonomy and biology (zoology, botany and geology).
< br> TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
The museum offers temporary exhibition programming and in the last temporary exhibitions held, a particular highlight was the “Exhibition on the Giant Palanca Negra” within the scope of the II National Culture Festival – II FENACULT in 2014.
The International Exhibition Hall – SIEXPO has been holding visual arts exhibitions with a program independent of the Museum's exhibition policy.
It is currently developing a unique exhibition program, although with some particularity to SIEXPO, which is expected to establish partnerships with curators independent, in programming an annual cultural agenda of art and specialty exhibitions related to the Institution's objectives, accompanied by lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences, with the use of the Auditorium.

ARCHITECTURE
The Museum's infrastructure is characteristic of modern architecture, built in the 1950s with the purpose of hosting a multidisciplinary museum capable of housing collections of natural sciences.

PUBLIC
The Museum has registered visits from the public from various sources, children, young people (in school groups and accompanied by their guardians), adults and elderly people, both nationals and foreigners.
The visitation rate records peaks and drops throughout throughout the year and recording the periods of November, January and February, the most relevant for visits. Exchange with some public and private Higher Education institutions and General Education Schools.

EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL ACTIONS
The Museum has offered guided visits and workshops for children with the support of teachers from the respective schools.
The Museum has promoted some cultural events inside and outside the institution such as lectures, seminars to the public in celebrations of official dates and ephemerides with the aim of commemorating the ephemeris and transmitting content to children about Biological Diversity, sensitizing them to contribute to the conservation of Nature.

OBJECTIVES - SCIENTIFIC
The MNHN has the following areas of activity, specialization and lines of research:
Zoology is the discipline that forms the Museum's collection, comprising the following groups: Mammalogy, Ornithology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Entomology and Malacology.
Always using the museum's collections as a reference, projects and other scientific activities are developed, which aim to contribute to the appreciation of Angola's natural heritage and enrich academic knowledge. Furthermore, the results obtained are disseminated through permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as through the development of numerous educational actions and events.
At the museum, research in the areas of Natural History focuses on the following specialized areas: Botany and Biodiversity, Historical Cartography, Conservation and Restoration, Paleontology, Geological Heritage and Medicinal Plants. This construction of content involves, on the one hand, the study of the museum's collections, as well as all the assets that make up its fund, but above all, the construction of documentation to support the exhibitions, initiatives and events that the Museum organizes.

The carrying out of the Cataloging and Cartography of the Fauna and Flora of Angola, within the scope of the Kwanza Corridor Project, with the main objective of identifying and inventorying all species of heritage and historical interest, relevant to the preservation of biodiversity, appears to be us in this context as fundamental to the beginning of the construction of a museological logic as an experimental basis for work.
Likewise, it is urgent to conclude the Mazozo Baobab Study Project, the Mazozo Biodiversity Project in the Fish and Reptiles areas and the Calumbo Bat Project, Dr Chrisfried Schoenherr's Shell Collection, Bird Monitoring, Importance of the Mutonga -Tonga, instruments to be inventoried and documented and give rise to various exhibitions and editions of publications.
National Museum of Natural History: space(s) and contents.

The Museum must base its philosophy on the territory as a complex resource that integrates the population, the physical environment and natural resources.
It is in this perspective that we believe the policy of the National Museum of Natural History should be based and, necessarily, the construction of a new language and approach to the public as an institution that is not confined to local logics and opens the doors to knowledge of other museological realities and scientific, with the creation of a comprehensive partnership network.
Participation in networks that bring together people, institutions and autonomous organizations committed to research, thus fostering new points of view, access to other exhibitions, evaluation and discussion of management methods, cooperation with other professionals absorbing and making known different expectations and intervention formulas, will bring to the Museum a wide range of informative and training added value, which will support a large part of the museum's activity.
In particular, the provision of content and collection that feeds the organization of temporary exhibitions directly or indirectly related with the programmatic themes and the strategy developed by the institution.

EXCHANGE
In this context, we believe that it is particularly important to deepen relationships with: museums integrated in the International Network of Natural Science Museums; namely, Museum of Natural History in Pretoria (South Africa), Museum of Natural History in Maputo (Mozambique), National Museum of Natural History and Science of the University of Lisbon, Museum of Natural History and Science of the University of Porto (Portugal ), Museum of Natural Sciences of Madrid and Barcelona (Spain), National Museum of Natural History of the University of São Paulo, Museum of Natural History and Botanical Garden of UFMG (MHNJB/Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), Museum of Natural History of Changai (China) and Natural History Museum of London (United Kingdom).

The dynamics that will come from this deepening of relationships within the scope of partnerships could act as a very important aid in involving other local structures and institutions. Therefore, the new museological logic must be based, in a clear way, on the diversity and reinforcement of the multidisciplinary function that characterizes the M.N.H.N. In this context, partnership and support agreements were signed with national companies:
SONANGOL, Faculty of Sciences of the Agostinho Neto University, National Institute of Fisheries Research (INIP), Institute of Forestry Development (IDF), Office of Utilization of Médio Kwanza (GAMEK), Ministry of the Environment, Public Transport Companies (TCUL, SGO and MACON).
This option will give a greater dimension to the museological process and will enhance the different themes that, depending on the geological, historical and natural diversity of Angola, can be developed.