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A Museum is a permanent non-profit institution, that serves society and its development, open to the public, and which acquires, preserves, studies, communicates and displays the material testimonies of man and his environment, with the aim of study, education and fruition.”
ICOM, 2001
The Water Museum, held by EPAL, SA – Empresa Portuguesa das Águas Livres, is made up of four spaces scattered throughout the city of Lisbon, all of them buildings related to the supply of water to the city of Lisbon, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries: the Águas Livres Aqueduct, the Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras Reservoir, the Patriarcal Reservoir and the Barbadinhos Steam Pumping Station.
The permanent collection on the subject of Water is housed in the building of the Barbadinhos Steam Pumping Station.
The Water Museum’s mission is based on three main axes:
- To preserve and disclose a unique heritage set
- To raise historical, scientific and technological awareness in the area of water supply
- To maintain an educational and environmental awareness programme, focusing particularly on the issues of water
Educational goals of the Water Museum: - To encourage the efficient use of water
- To understand the water cycle
- To understand the urban cycle of water
- To enhance the historical heritage relating to water supply
- To know how society works in the different aspects that make it up, prior to the construction of the Águas Livres Aqueduct
- To understand the importance of water in the context of the city’s development, namely in improving the populations’ life conditions
- To raise awareness of the issues of pollution and water waste
- To create ties of affection with the city of Lisbon’s heritage