Martins Sarmento Society Building

The Martins Sarmento Society Building (Portuguese: Edifício da Sociedade Martins Sarmento) is located inside the Historic Centre of Guimarães. It serves both as the headquarters of the Martins Sarmento Society and as a museum. The building was designed by the Portuguese architect José Marques da Silva and it was constructed in two distinct phases: the first (1901–1908) follows the Neo-Byzantine style, while the second (1934–1967) follows the Brutalist style.

Built in granite masonry, the building has two floors on the main façade facing the street, with the central portal and the flanking openings with round arches.^[1] On the main floor, three large semicircular arches, the central one opening onto the entrance portico, are supported by cylindrical columns and capitals decorated with molded imposts and house large niches preceded by balustrades.^[1][2] Each of them has three raised arches, the central one being the highest, and all feature polychrome paintings by Abel Cardoso. Above the main floor runs a complex and thick entablature with corbels next to the cornice, interrupted by four lanceolate medallions between corbels that hide the gargoyles of the cornice. Under the medallions, and carved in relief in the granite, are the inscriptions: "Sciencias" (Sciences), "Lettras" (Literatures), "Artes" (Arts) and "Indvstrias" (Industries).^[2]

This decorative scheme on the frontispiece is repeated on the north side façade, with the exception of the gate, which does not exist there, and on the main floor, where the arcades do not feature paintings. The west wing of the building, which was built later, has an almost completely bare decorative style, reminiscent of the main façade only in the dentil corbels that support the eaves and the cornice separating the two floors, which are divided by straight openings, an extension of the existing one in the neo-Romantic wing, which, according to José-Augusto França, never "had a more coherent application in Portugal, at the secular level...".^[2]

After its creation in 1881 and throughout the early years of its existence, the Martins Sarmento Society (MSS) struggled to find a permanent place to settle in. It's libraries and the Archaeology and Numismatics museum, as well as the activities it carried out (primary classes, the secondary education institute, evening courses, embroidery classes) were housed in various spaces around the city, including Martins Sarmento's mansion at the Carmo Square.^[3]

On 4 January 1887, the Guimarães City Council decided to hand over to the MSS, on a temporary basis, what was left of the building of the now-defunct convent of S. Domingos and an annex structure to there establish a museum and a library.^[4] The following year, a decree was issued granting the MSS permanent possession of the building and its annexes, and from 1890 onwards, a series of interventions were made to adapt the complex to the Society's needs and projects.^[3]

The origins of the current Martins Sarmento Society Building date back to 1896, when, at a meeting of the society's Board of Directors, it was decided to go ahead with a project to build a new façade for their old fashioned headquarter building.^[3] In 1899, the architect José Marques da Silva was commissioned to design this new space in August, just a few months before Martim Sarmento's death.^[4]

The first phase of the project, aimed at giving the headquarters a new façade (replacing the outdated and deteriorating one and bringing the building closer to the street by eliminating the small open area in front) began on 25 May 1901 and lasted until 1908;^[3] however, the main façade was completed on 15 February 1905 and the main hall was inaugurated in 1907.^[5] The frescos on this façade were made by painter Abel Cardoso.^[5]

In 1934, Marques da Silva was asked for a new project to extend the new façade and connect it to the old convent of S. Domingos, replacing the old headquarter building in the middle and replacing it with a new modern structure.^[3] Construction began at the end of that same year, with the project still in progress.^[6]

The complete project was delivered in 1936 and was used by the Martins Sarmento Society to ask the Portuguese state to contribute to the construction; it received a small grant in 1937, but in 1938 it was decided that the state would no longer contribute to the work. The work continued until it was interrupted in 1943.^[6]

After the death of Marques da Silva in 1947,^[5] the execution of this new phase was continued by Silvas' daughter and his son-in-law, who continued all the projects that were underway.^[6]

The work carried out after 1947, more than just monitoring the work, involved the production of various drawings (construction details, furniture design and lighting) that completed the 1936 project. The stonework guard for the floor of the Grand Staircase came from a side project presented later in 1953: "treatment of the flooring and wainscoting with sawn granite around the staircase, the profile of the wooden doors, the furniture in the Reading Room and the metal lantern in the box of the Grand Staircase".^[6]

In 1957, a tender was launched for the completion of the building, which was finished in 1967.^[6] The inauguration took place on 17 June 1967 and was attended by the President of the Republic, Admiral Américo Tomás.^[7]

• The old building granted by the city council to be the Martins Sarmento Society's (MSS) new headquarters
• Photograph of the library of the old building, late 1800s or early 1900s
• Firefighters posing next to the MSS headquarters (right), in the area where its new façade would soon be built, circa 1900
• Project of the new façade by architect Marques da Silva
• Final stages of the construction of the new façade, circa 1905
• The building following the conclusion of the 1st phase, 1908
• Early stages of the 2nd phase (right), where the new structure was built around the old building before its demolition, 1938
• Stone slab stating the inauguration of the building in 1967 by President Américo Tomás
• The MSS building fully completed, 2025
• Back of the building, the cloister of S. Domingos, 2019
• Byzantine style window of the front façade with frescos painted by Abel Cardoso
• Grand hall and interior, 2019
• Grand staircase connecting both phases of the building in the Suave style, 2019

• Martins Sarmento
• Martins Sarmento Society
• Marques da Silva
• List of buildings and structures in Guimarães