Visiting the Museum of the Portuguese Language

A walk through the experiences of the main exhibition of the Museum of the Portuguese Language

Entrance to the Museum of the Portuguese Language. (2021-07-01/2021-07-01) by Cristiano FukuyamaMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Our language, the language of us

The Museum of the Portuguese Language was created in 2006, marked by innovation and inventiveness. Located in Estação da Luz, it has established itself as a place of memory par excellence, becoming a reference for a large part of the world's Portuguese-speaking population, mobilizing it culturally.

In August 2021, it reopened to the public completely renovated. In addition to the restoration of the historic building of Estação da Luz, the main exhibition was also updated, both its technological equipment and its contents, bringing new experiences and more current debates. At the same time, fundamental experiences that were very dear to visitors were maintained. Here, you will discover this new exhibition.

Viagens da Língua / Language Travels

Viagens da Língua is on the first floor of the exhibition. In it, it is possible to cross different continents and centuries to follow the various movements of the Portuguese language around the world and learn more about our historical, social and cultural formation. It is an invitation to walk among the language that is alive today, diverse and vibrant. Also here we discover the kinship of Portuguese with so many languages as Greek, Russian and Dutch... and that it is a language spoken by millions of people around the world.

Línguas do Mundo, installation at the Museum of Portuguese Language. (2021-06-22/2021-06-22) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Speech in Spanish present in the Línguas do Mundo experience.
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Línguas do Mundo / Languages of the World

There are about 7,000 languages in the world, and in this installation, a forest of sounds, you can hear 23 of these languages when you approach the columns. Check out some of this experience with the Spanish, Guarani-Mbya and Kimbundu languages.

Speech in Kimbundu present in the Línguas do Mundo experience.
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In each column, music, dialogues or poems can be heard, always starting with "The world speaks 7 thousand languages, I speak...".

Speech in Guarani-Mbya present in the Línguas do Mundo experience.
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Laços de família, installation at the Museum of Portuguese Language. (2021-06-15/2021-06-15) by Ciete SilvérioMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Laços de Família / Family Ties

This installation helps us to understand why there is a similarity between several languages that, superficially, seem distant. It's like a family tree that shows the historical development of languages that had the same origin as Portuguese: the Indo-European.

Laços de Família, installation at the Museum of Portuguese Language. (2020-11-04/2020-11-04) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

The * sign indicates a reconstructed language, with no written record.
The † sign indicates a dead language (one that is no longer spoken).

Rua da Língua, installation at the Museum of Portuguese Language. (2021-06-15/2021-06-15) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Rua da Língua / Language Street

A 106-metre-long canvas crosses the Museum, surprising visitors at each minute, inviting them to reflect on language in contemporary urban life.

Rua da Língua, installation at the Museum of Portuguese Language. (2022-11-08/2022-11-08) by Cristiano FukuyamaMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

The screen already existed in the previous curatorship, but its audiovisual installation was completely modified, now showing visual poetry, artistic interventions and the diversity of uses of language in public spaces.

Beco das palavras, installation at the Musem of Portuguese Language. (2020-10-29/2020-10-29) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Beco das Palavras / Worlds Alley

A collaborative game in which visitors use their own shadow to join syllables that “float” on an electronic table. When a word is formed, it starts a video that presents its meaning and origin.

Beco das palavras, installation of the Musem of Portuguese Language. (2022-10-26/2022-10-26) by David CostaMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Beco das Palavras / Worlds Alley

Main exhibition of the Musem of Portuguese Language. (2021-02-04/2021-02-04) by Joca DuarteMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Palavras Cruzadas / Crosswords

Many of the words in Brazilian Portuguese are the result of contact with other languages. Visitors discover some of these contributions on eight interactive screens that show the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of each word in Portuguese and in the original language.

Palavras Cruzadas, part of the Musem of Portuguese Language's main exhibition. (2022-11-08/2022-11-08) by Cristiano FukuyamaMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Português do Brasil, part of Musem of Portuguese Language's main exhibition. (2021-06-22/2021-06-22) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Português do Brasil / Brazilian Portuguese

The Portuguese language comes from afar! This timeline shows how was this journey through centuries, oceans and continents until we reached Brazilian Portuguese – which continues to change every day.

Português do Brasil, part of the Musem of Portuguese Language's main exhibition. (2021-02-04/2021-02-04) by Joca DuarteMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Português do Brasil / Brazilian Portuguese

"Linguistic Diversity", video of the Português do Brasil installation, with linguist Ana Suelly Arruda Câmara Cabral. (2021-07-20/2021-07-20)Museu da Língua Portuguesa

Nós da Língua, part of the Musem of Portuguese Language's main exhibition. (2020-10-04/2020-10-04) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Nós da Língua / Language Knots

Portuguese spread throughout the world from the 15th century onwards with the great navigations, and today it is present on four continents. In this installation, visitors can learn more about the culture and history of the countries that share language with Brazil.

Nós da Língua, part of Musem of Portuguese Language's main exhibition. (2022-10-29/2022-10-29) by Cecilia FariasMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

In the installation, there are 5 interactive screens that bring together the current movements of the language, showing what is produced within these cultures – which, despite being geographically distant, share our language with us.

Nós da Língua, part of the Musem of Portuguese Language's main exhibition. (2022-10-29/2022-10-29) by Cecilia FariasMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

There are hundreds of contents between maps, interviews, documentaries, poems and even videoclips.

Língua Viva / Living Language

Língua Viva is the name of the second floor of the exhibition. In it, we discover that the language is a kind of  human  superpower and we can get to know a sample of Brazilian Portuguese, pulsating freely in its infinite solutions and expressions in the speeches of people from all regions in the conversations on the streets, in the songs, in the graffiti on the walls, in the speeches of the children, in the prayers... Also here it is possible to dive into a selection of the best poetry and prose in Portuguese.

Falares, part of the Musem of Portuguese Language's main exhibition. (2022-11-08/2022-11-08) by Cristiano FukuyamaMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Falares 

Is the Portuguese the same throughout Brazil and among people from different social groups? What does our way of speaking say about us? On 9 full-size screens and 1 extra interactive screen you can watch people from many places talking about their relationship with the language.

The installation Projetemos and the work LUTE, by Rubens Gerchman. (2020-11-04/2020-11-04) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Projetemos

Words spread across the city as art and as protest – street posters, graffiti, sound cars...
With the popularization of technological resources, the projection of quotes is also adopted as a way of interacting with the city through the Portuguese language.

Video with urban projections made by the Projetemos collective and the Museum of Portuguese Language. (2022-10-26/2022-10-26) by DesconhecidoMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Presentation of a video session in the auditorium of the Portuguese Language Museum (2020-10-19/2020-10-19) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Auditório / Auditorium

The auditorium is part of the complete experience of visiting the Museum of the Portuguese Language. The film "What can language do?" (O que pode a língua?), by Carlos Nader, is a journey through the human ability to speak and communicate through words – our superpower.

Praça da Língua, experience of the Portuguese Language Museum. (2022-11-08/2022-11-08) by Cristiano FukuyamaMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Praça da Língua / Language Square       

Praça da Língua is like a “planetarium of words”: an audiovisual show projected on the roof of Estação da Luz with readings of literary passages and songs in Portuguese. This experience has been around since the museum opened in 2006 and has been updated.

Presentation of a video-projection session at Praça da Língua, experience part of the main exhibition of the Musem of Portuguese Language. (2021-02-04/2021-02-04) by Joca DuarteMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Interpretation of the poem "Procura da poesia", by Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Voice of Matheus Nachtergaele.
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Panoramic view from the terrace of the Musem of Portuguese Language. (2019-12-16/2019-12-16) by Ana MelloMuseu da Língua Portuguesa

Terrace Paulo Mendes da Rocha

This is one of the great innovations in the Museum's renovation: access to the terrace, from where it's possible to see the tower of Luz Station up close. Terrace Paulo Mendes da Rocha is a tribute to the architect who designed the building restoration to house the museum.

Credits: Story

Museum of the Portuguese Language
São Paulo, December 2022.

São Paulo State Government
Rodrigo Garcia - Governor

Secretary of Culture and Creative Economy of São Paulo State 
Sérgio Sá Leitão - Secretary
Cláudia Pedrozo - Executive Secretary
Frederico Mascarenhas - Chief of Staff
Paula Paiva Ferreira - Coordinator of the Museological Heritage Preservation Unit

IDBrasil Culture, Education and Sport - Social Organization of Culture
Administrative Council

Carlos Antonio Luque - President
Renata Vieira da Motta - Executive Director
Vitoria Boldrin - Administrative and Financial Director
Marilia Bonas - Technical Director

Exposure
Content development: Cecilia Farias and Renata Beltrão
Metadata and editing: Cecilia Farias and Shayene Borges
Review: Camila Aderaldo and Renata Beltrão
Translation: Cecilia Farias
Videos (exhibition spaces): David Costa and Cristiano Fukuyama

*All contents are protected by copyright*

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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