6 museomag   03 ‘ 2015 
The visit of “The Borders of Independence” at the 
M3E begins with an impressive and valuable exhibit: 
one of the originals of the Final Act of the Congress of 
Vienna, signed in 1815 by Russia, Great Britain, Austria, 
Prussia, France, Sweden-Norway, and Portugal, later 
ratified by Spain in 1817. With 2015 marking the bi- 
centennial of the treaty that tried for the first time to 
establish a cooperative order in Europe, the various 
original copies of the Final Act held by the signatory 
countries were in high demand. The curators of “The 
Borders of Independence” remembered that Portugal 
had signed the Final Act as well. Despite its location 
at the periphery of Europe, the country had suffered 
three destructive Napoleonic campaigns fended off by 
both popular uprising and a helping hand from the 
country’s oldest ally, Great Britain. 
Silvestre Lacerda is the director of the Portuguese 
National Archive, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, 
where many other precious documents are deposited, 
such as the 1500 letter of Pêro Vaz de Caminha the 
King of Portugal upon the discovery of Brasil, or the 
Tordesillas Treaty, signed between Portugal and Spain, 
both UNESCO World Memory Registers. With an area 
of 55.000 m2 the documents kept in its vaults add up 
to 100 km of shelve space, with the oldest document 
dating from 882. Silvestre Lacerda is the 59th custodian 
of the memory and identity of the Portuguese, in 
a lineage that goes back to 1387 and includes the 
illustrious 15th and 16th century chroniclers, Fernão 
Lopes and Damião de Góis. 
While the document is undergoing preservation 
and restoration work for its incredible journey to 
Luxembourg, we talked to the man who authorized this 
very unusual and precious loan. 
CAN YOU TELL US HOW THE FINAL ACT TURNED 
UP IN THE TORRE DO TOMBO? 
The document had been kept at the Portuguese 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs that signed treaties on behalf 
of the Portuguese Crown. Towards the end of the 19th 
century it was incorporated in the National Archives. 
VIENNA / LISBON / LUXEMBOURG 
– TRAVELS OF A TREATY 
A ‘JEWEL’ AT THE EXHIBITION “THE BORDERS OF INDEPENDENCE. 
LUXEMBOURG BETWEEN 1815 AND 1839“ 
Silvestre Lacerda: „This document never left our vaults to travel abroad, and it will be gone for much longer 
than our usual three-month-loans.” 
© 
éric chenal