The ongoing works in the old Boa Nova military hospital for the installation of the Military Centre of Angra do Heroísmo Museum will be completed by next year, assured the Regional Director for Culture today.

After the completion of the works, the museum's military "reserve" collection will be transferred to the new premises and a permanent exhibition will be organised.

At the end of the visit to the old hospital, whose contract work was awarded to the company Somague with a budget of 1.7 million Euros, the Regional Director for Culture said he was pleased with the fact that "the demolitions works are being carried out very carefully" as we are "before a building that holds an important meaning as well as significant historical memory."

As the government official mentioned, the building undergoing renewal works was perhaps "the first military hospital ever built in the country in the early 17th century"; hence "its profound historical significance."

According to Jorge Bruno, the old hospital will house the Military History Centre of the Angra do Heroísmo Museum that will be named after Manuel Coelho Baptista de Lima, the 1st director of Angra Museum.

The Regional Director for Culture explained that the Military History collection, which is at the care of Angra do Heroísmo Museum and other collections, is one "largest, richest and most valuable collections" of its kind in Portugal.

In addition to providing the assembly and the opening of a long-term exhibition to the public, the renewal of the old Boa Nova military hospital will also house the reserve collections which include, among other things, over one thousand military uniforms.

Meanwhile, Jorge Bruno noted that some pieces that make up the Military History Collection may be displayed here, such as the case of a Fiat aircraft which is owned by the Angra do Heroísmo Museum, some large Berliet vehicles or several anti-aircraft artillery pieces installed on Monte Brazil.