CONFERÊNCIA INTERNACIONAL COLECÇÕES E MUSEUS DE GEOCIÊNCIAS

THE COLLECTION OF MINING AND METALLURGICAL ART OF THE

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING OF PORTO (ISEP)

COSTA, Patrícia 1,2, CHAMINÉ, Helder I.1,3, BRANDÃO, José 4 e CALLAPEZ, Pedro 5
1
Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP), IPP, Porto, Portugal
2
Museu do ISEP (pcmc@isep.ipp.pt)
3
Museu de Mineralogia e Geologia, Departamento de Engenharia Geotécnica, ISEP (hic@isep.ipp.pt)
4
INETI / Centro de Estudos de História e Filosofia da Ciência (josembrandao@gmail.com)
5
Museu Mineralógico e Geológico da Universidade de Coimbra, FCTUC (zepallac@gmail.com)

Keywords: ISEP Museum; didactic models; Freiberg Academy; Theodor Gersdorf

Teaching of the mining and metallurgical art in Portugal suffered several structural and
programmatic alterations over time. These accompanied both the various official policies and the
progress that has been registered in this field. These subjects, however, were not included in the
study plans until the reform of 1864, which originated the industrial teaching through the
foundation of the Industrial Institutes of Porto and Lisbon. In Porto, this area was installed in the
building of the Polytechnic Academy. In 1869 it gained prominence due to the royal decree
establishing that the course of mining and master miners would only be taught in this city. From
1867 to 1883, several purchases were made for the so-called Cabinet of Natural History. Their
main purpose was to form a considerable collection of minerals, ores, rocks and fossils. Since
1883, however, attention was also given to the need to incorporate didactic models in the
collection of mines and metallurgy. In 1887, the Cabinet of Mineralogy and Mining Art of the
Industrial Institute of Porto was created. At the time, various instruments and didactic models
were additionally purchased for the collections. In particular, Professor M. R. Miranda Júnior was
responsible for acquiring a wide range of didactic materials, which were essential for the
implementation of this new teaching area. His acquisitions included different metallurgical
furnaces and mining models all fulfilling a unique special requirement; "the models required [...]
should be ordered to the constructor Thomaz [Theodor] Gersdorf from Freiberg supplier of the
school of mines of that city." These models belong at present to the estate of ISEP museum. The
mining and metallurgical models commissioned in 1888 by prof. Miranda Júnior were indeed
built by Theodor Gersdorf as attested by correspondence dated from that time, sent and received
at the Industrial Institute. Nowadays, so far, two similar models have only been found in the
collection from the Freiberg Academy. Nevertheless, it is known that identical models, which
were built by Schulmman and Braun, respectively, were also exported at least to the University of
St. Petersburg (Russia) and the University of Kyushu (Japan).

Universidade de Coimbra, 5 e 6 de Junho de 2009