By using the puppet theatres, the Museu de Alberto Sampaio presents some of its collections and some of the personalities that marked its history and the history of Guimarães. The beautiful and colourful scenery, the nice and funny characters and the enchanting music contribute to the success of these theatres, turning them into one of the most requested activities by our visitors.
How Dom João I took the town of Guimarães!
Fernão Lopes, chronicler of Dom João I, thoroughly tells us how this monarch took Guimarães in 1385.
At that time, Guimarães was divided into two towns, the Lower Town and the Upper Town, and they both supported the Castilian king and Dona Beatriz.
Dom João I, committed to conquer Guimarães to his cause, decided to take the Lower Town first. The strategy he used was very ingenious and astute and he counted on the help of Afonso Lourenço, a Guimarães squire.
This episode is staged and dramatized in this puppet theatre.
Target public: Students aged 6 to 12
Duration: 40 minutes
Maximum no. of participants: 60
Afonso Henriques, a Great King
“Afonso Henriques, a great king” is a puppet theatre that tells us, in a very fun way, the life of our first king.
With it, we get to know Afonso Henriques – the child who, as all the kids of his age, likes to play and to play tricks on people, Afonso Henriques – the adult who becomes the courageous Conqueror whom we still remember, and finally, a more mature Afonso Henriques who announces his successor Dom Sancho I, the Populator.
But we also get to know other characters: Afonso Henriques’s parents, Count Dom Henrique and Dona Teresa, his preceptor, possibly Egas Moniz, Count Fernão Peres de Trava and Dona Mafalda, Afonso Henriques’s wife and (go figure!) we even see the birth of the small infantes and infantas!
We hope that, besides having fun, children will be able to recognise some of the historical aspects associated with the figure of this brave king.
See the video on the Youtube channel of MAS.
Target public: Students aged 3 to 12
Duration: 45 minutes
Maximum no. of participants: 60
Roberta’s dreams: there are nuns in the Museum
With this puppet theatre, we present the conventual life of the nuns of the Convento de Santa Clara de Guimarães. The main character is Roberta, a girl who lives in the Museu de Alberto Sampaio and who, together with her friend Dentinhos (Little Teeth), travels, in her dreams, to this Guimarães convent.
The language is simple, the scenery is colourful and the music accompanies the entire story! It is a show that combines the recreational and the pedagogic components and delights those who watch it.
In our Youtube channel, it is possible to find a small video of this activity.
Target public: Students aged 3 to 10
Duration: 45 minutes
Maximum no. of participants: 60
Mumadona Dias, the founder of Guimarães
This puppet theatre presents one of the major personalities in the history of Guimarães: Mumadona Dias.
We time travel to the 10th century to know her ancestors, her husband, her children, her life and also the two constructions she ordered to be built in this territory from which Guimarães arose: a monastery and a primitive castle.
Target public: Students aged 6 to 12
Duration: 45 minutes
Maximum no. of participants: 60
Uncle Alberto’s Stories
This puppet theatre is an adaptation of the children’s book “História de Alberto” (Alberto’s Story) by Emília Nóvoa Faria. In a colourful and fun narrative filled with sounds, we are told episodes of the life of Alberto Sampaio, patron of this Museum and a great 19th-century historian.
Alberto Sampaio was born in Guimarães in 1841 and died in Vila Nova de Famalicão in 1908. In 2008, the Centenary of his death was commemorated.
Target public: Students aged 6 to 12
Duration: 45 minutes
Maximum no. of participants: 60
