the museum that spills into the street
Over fifty sculptures scattered across the city's parks and squares. MIEC has no main hall, no set route: the collection lives outdoors, spread across five urban clusters in Santo Tirso, and you bump into it as you walk, with no warning.
The idea came in 1990, when sculptor Alberto Carneiro suggested it to the council. The model is simple and still works: every two years, sculptors from different countries come to Santo Tirso for about two months, make the pieces right here, and install them in public spaces. The city keeps gathering work. The collection grows in layers, symposium after symposium, since 1991.
The visitor building was designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira. The work on the Museu Municipal Abade Pedrosa, housed in the Mosteiro de Santo Tirso right next door, was by Eduardo Souto de Moura. Two heavyweight names for a museum most people don't know exists.
Parque D. Maria II, Praça 25 de Abril, Parque dos Carvalhais, Praça Camilo Castelo Branco, Parque Urbano de Rabada: these are where the collection lives. You grab the sculpture map and walk Santo Tirso with a different eye.
what you'll find
- public-scale sculptures in everyday settings, no gallery frame
- the Siza building as the starting point for the walk through the city
- the Benedictine monastery, listed as a national monument, right next door
- a sculpture map available to guide the route
