Government approves extension of the Berardo Collection Foundation – Portugal

The decree-law that abolishes the Modern and Contemporary Art Foundation – Berardo Collection was approved this Tuesday by the Council of Ministers, with its workers becoming employees of the Fundação Centro Cultural de Belém.

Belem Cultural Center
Filipa Couto / Correio da Manhã

According to the statement from the Council of Ministers, “electronically approved the decree-law that extinguishes the Foundation for Modern and Contemporary Art – Berardo Collection (FAMC-CB)”, which “was instituted in 2006 with the main purpose of constituting the Museu Coleção Berardo de Arte Moderna e Contemporânea, based on the permanent collection of the Coleção Berardo, to be installed at the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), and to maintain, preserve and promote that collection, which came to take place in June 2007”. In May of this year, the Minister of Culture announced that the Government would denounce the protocol signed between the State and art collector José Berardo, which would automatically renew at the end of this year. In today’s communiqué, it is recalled that, “with the end of the lending period, the main purpose for which the FAMC-CB was established ends”.

In practical terms, according to the Minister of Culture in declarations to Portuguese, this means that the CCB Foundation “once again manages and takes possession of module 3” of the building, where the Museu Coleção Berardo is located. For now, according to Pedro Adão e Silva, the collection will be on display in the same place, leaving only the space to be called Museu Coleção Berardo.