Cultural places in Portugal

Museum • Elvas, Portalegre

In Elvas, the Military Museum occupies the former premises of Infantry Regiment No. 8, in the Quartéis do Casarão and the São Domingos Barracks, a space made available by the Army restructuring completed in 2006. Its mission and staff structure were approved in 2007, the museological project in 2008, and the official inauguration took place on 29 October 2009. The building also preserves an earlier memory: it includes the Convent of São Domingos, the Fernandine Wall and part of the 17th-century wall, elements linked to the fortified system of Elvas, inscribed by UNESCO in 2012. The collections give form to the material history of the Portuguese Army, with sections dedicated to the Health Service, vehicles, horse-drawn equipment, harnesses, transmissions, heavy weapons and the Portuguese Colonial War. Since 2014, the museum has been part of the Portuguese Museum Network, strengthening its role as a place for preserving and studying military culture.