News Repository

12 February - 4 May | National Museum of Natural History and Science, Lisbon 

Organised by our team and the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC), this temporary exhibition showcases some of the results of our research. 

It also featured an exciting Program of Activities with guided visits, roundtables specialised in several areas of our investigation, and magic lantern and optical theatre shows by Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho that took place between February and April 2025. 

More information HERE.

Hosted at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (Portugal) from 2-4 April 2025, our Conference on the Magic Lantern: Study Safeguard, Uses and Reuses featured an exciting program presenting the outcomes of the MAGICA project, invited lectures, and guided visits to exhibitions with magic lanterns and slides at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (MCUC), National Archive of Moving Images (ANIM) of the Portuguese Cinematheque – Museum of Cinema, and National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC). The conference closed with a public Magic Lantern and Optical Theatre show by Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho.

Program, Book of Abstracts, Photographs and more HERE.

Our team is pleased to present you with a video of the MAGICA project making-of.

This video tries to encompass the several branches of our investigation over the last few years, demonstrating how the interdisciplinary fields of conservation science, musicology, media archaeology, theatrology, computer science, art and museography were connected to positivily impact the preservation, interpretation, rehabilitation and valorisation of our precious heritage of magic lantern slides as well as other associated documents such as theatrical texts, scores and iconographic records. 

This video is also available HERE.

Our team members from CESEM have been preparing a surprise for you!
A demonstration of musical glasses by Maria Sempiterno & Francisco Monteiro.

The musical glasses share the principle with the glass harmonica created and disseminated in the 19th century by Benjamin Franklin. The sounds are produced by vibration using the friction of wet fingers on the rims of glass bowls. With the magic lantern visual projections combined with the unique sound characteristics of this instrument, the ethereal essence of phantasmagorias was brought to life. 

The composition process shown in the video tried to capture recurring themes and emotions of both the magica genre and the musical glasses instrument. 

This video is also available HERE.

We are pleased to announce that the Book of Abstracts of our International Conference on the Magic Lantern: Study Safeguard, Uses and Reuses is now available.

You can read it by clicking on the image.

Our conference is happening this week, from 2 - 4 April.
Learn more about it HERE.

12 February - 4 May | National Museum of Natural History and Science, Lisbon 

Grand Opening: 11 February at 6 pm
It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the grand opening of our first exhibition, with a visit led by Márcia Vilarigues and Luísa Cymbron and demonstrations of glass harmonica by Maria Sempiterno and Francisco Monteiro. 

Organised by our team and the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC), this temporary exhibition will showcase some of the results of our research. It will feature an exciting Program of Activities with guided visits, roundtables specialised in several areas of our investigation, and magic lantern and optical theatre shows by the lanternist Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho that will take place between February and April 2025. 

More information HERE.

We are organising three guided visits to the exhibition MAGICA: Ciência e Espetáculo no Século XIX, followed by roundtable discussions focused on different areas of our investigation at the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC), Lisbon.

21 February | 6 pm -  "The production and conservation of slides".
Visit and roundtable guided by Márcia Vilarigues.

21 March | 6 pm "Music, theatre and magic lantern".
Visit and roundtable guided by Luísa Cymbron.

11 April | 6 pm "The animation of slides".
Visit and roundtable guided by Marta Soares.

Given the strong relationship between the magic lantern and animation cinema, a partnership was established with MONSTRA - Animation Festival of Lisbon, to include in the MAGICA exhibition programme two shows of magic lantern and optical theatre, an instrument that combines the Praxinoscope with magic lantern projectors invented by Émile Reynaud and used in his Pantomimes Lumineuses (Luminous Pantomimes) shows at the end of the 19th century. Abi Feijó, a renowned animation film director and producer, is the author of the reconstruction of the optical theatre and the lanternist who guides us on a journey through his collection of slides and magic lanterns that can be visited at the Casa-Museu de Vilar in Lousada (Portugal).

28 March | Schools

10 am - Guided visit by the MUHNAC museum's educational service (PT)
11 am - Magic lantern and optical theatre show by Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho (PT) (60 min)

29 March | Families

3 pm - Guided visit by Marta Soares (PT/EN)
4 pm - Magic lantern and optical theatre show by Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho (PT) (60 min)

Registration is mandatory: geral@museus.ulisboa.pt | 213 921 808
More information HERE.

Our International Conference on the Magic Lantern: Study, Safeguard, Uses and Reuses, occurring from 2-4 April 2025 at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (Portugal), will not only feature an exciting program presenting the outcomes of the MAGICA project and invited lectures. It will also include a magic lantern performance and visits to the exhibitions at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (MCUC) and the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC), as well as the National Archive of Moving Images (ANIM) of the Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema (Portuguese Cinematheque – Museum of Cinema).

4 April 

4:30 pm - Visit to the exhibition MAGICA: Ciência e Espetáculo no Século XIX at the National Museum of Natural History and Science (Lisbon) guided by Márcia Vilarigues and Luísa Cymbron (EN)
6 pm - Magic lantern and optical theatre show by Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho (~90 min)

More information HERE.

Our team member, Rita Silva, defended on the 11th of December her Master's dissertation entitled "Interactive Tools for Historical Content - Magic Lantern", supervised by Nuno Correia and Márcia Vilarigues.

The digital tool she developed during her project will be featured in MAGICA Exhibitions early next year for visitors to interact with.  

Her dissertation will soon be available at the NOVA University Repository.

Our International Conference on the Magic Lantern: Study, Safeguard, Uses and Reuses will occur from 2-4 April 2025 at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra, Portugal.

The Call for Papers is now open, and we invite all researchers engaging with the magic lantern to submit abstracts up to 300 words in English by email to magica@fct.unl.pt.
The submission deadline is on Monday, December 2nd 2024.

More information on abstract submission and registration HERE.

Our International Conference on the Magic Lantern: Study, Safeguard, Uses and Reuses, occurring from 2-4 April 2025, will not only feature an exciting program presenting the outcomes of the MAGICA project with invited lectures but will also include:

• A magic lantern performance;

• Visits to the MAGICA exhibitions at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra & the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC);

• Visits to the National Archive of Moving Images (ANIM) of the Portuguese Cinematheque – Museum of Cinema.

More information HERE.

Our team member Vanessa Otero will present the paper "Fading memories: The impact of photosensitive eosin lakes on the conservation of 19th-century hand-painted magic lantern slides" at the conference VIII Jornadas Ibéricas de Fotoquímica (8’JIF) & I Franco-Iberian Conference on Photochemistry (1’FICP).

This conference will take place, from September 11th to 13th, at the stunning Academia das Ciências de Lisboa. Nestled in the heart of Lisbon, this historic institution has been a beacon of scientific excellence since 1779. 

More information HERE.

Our team member Joana Peliz will present the paper "A dream in féerie: music and image in the construction of the oneiric environment of Venus" at the conference Dream and Music Theatre after 1800: Continuities, Turning Points, Perspectives. 

The conference will take place from the 18th to 20th September at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Tübingen. 

More information HERE.

On September 27th, our team members will bring MAGICA to one of the most popular events that brings science to the general public, aiming to raise awareness of the importance of investigation and innovation in Europe. 

Through engaging activities for the public of all ages, visitors can learn about the magic lantern instrument and its use, discover which paints were used in these miniature paintings, the sounds and music that accompanied their projections, and learn about some of the challenges scientists face in preserving these fascinating painted slides.

Our activities will be held at "Sala Pedagógicos" on the 1st floor of the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) in Lisbon after 17h. 

More information HERE.

Our team members Carmen López San Segundo and Francisco Javier Frutos will lecture a seminar at NOVA FCT, Mapeando las colecciones de placas estándar de linterna mágica como activos del patrimonio académico europeo (UNI-MAGIC).

This seminar will be held on the 3rd of July, at 14h15, in the DCR Meeting Room (Ed. Departamental), NOVA School of Science and Technology (NOVA FCT), Caparica. 

More information HERE.

Our team member, Ângela Santos, will defend her doctoral thesis entitled "Lanterna Magica: Technology and Preservation of Painted Glass Slides for Projection with Magic Lanterns", supervised by Márcia Vilarigues and Vanessa Otero.

It will be held on the 5th of July, at 14h, at the DCR Meeting Room (Ed. Departamental), NOVA School of Science and Technology (NOVA FCT), Caparica.
More information HERE.

The work by V. Otero, M. Vieira, A. Neves, A.J. Moro, and M.J. Melo, "Back to the Future: Revisiting the stability of madder colors by using historically accurate pigment formulations", will be presented as a Poster at the Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research - Gordon Research Conference. 

This conference will be held from 7-12 of July, at the Les Diablerets Conference Center, Switzerland.
More information HERE.

Our team member, Ângela Santos, will present the work "Glass in the Spotlight: Investigating the origins of two 18th-century magic lantern slide sets in Portugal" by Â. Santos, A. Rodrigues, C. Machado, G. Pereira, V. Otero and M. Vilarigues, at the NCM15 - ESG15 - SGT Conference as part of the History & Heritage Workshop.

This is a joint Conference that includes the 15th European Society of Glass Conference, the 15th International Conference on the Structure of Non-Crystalline Materials, and the  Annual Conference of the Society of Glass Technology. It will be held on 15-19 July at the Churchill College, Cambridge. Programme and Registration HERE. 

MAGICA project is now counting on the support of Mixbox- Natural Colour Mixing Based on Real Pigments, a practical library, which is being incorporated into an interactive tool to recreate the action of painting on glass for magic lantern slides.

This tool is being developed by our project members of computer science and will be available for free in our public exhibitions at the National Museum of Natural History and Science (Lisbon), the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (Coimbra) and online.
Mixbox Website & Library  (Now added to our Resources page)

Our project's PI, Márcia Vilarigues, will bring the project MAGICA to the world's greatest festival of communication of science.
Her communication "A lanterna mágica - luz e cor no século XIX" will be at The Queen Ale - Craft Beer Bar (Lisbon) on the 15th of May at 7 pm.

This Festival is organised by a grass-root community of thousands of scientists across the world.
The Program and Registration can be accessed HERE.

The 2024 Edition of the Encontros no ANIM, organized by the Portuguese Cinematheque - Museum of Science at the National Archive of Moving Images (ANIM), will count with the participation of the MAGICA project. 

On the 23rd of May, Our project's PI, Márcia Vilarigues, and research members Ângela Santos and Vanessa Otero will be presenting "MAGICA: Projeto de investigação sobre as coleções de vidros de lanterna mágica da Cinemateca" which will be accompanied by a demonstration of projections with a magic lantern by Teresa Parreira (ANIM).

The Program (23-25 May) and Registration can be accessed HERE.

On the 28th of May, our PI, Márcia Vilarigues, will present as an Invited Speaker at the 2024 Spring Meeting of the European Materials Research Society, organized with the Foundation Jean-Marie Lehn. This Meeting will be held at the Convention & Exhibition Centre of Strasbourg (France) from May 27 to 31, 2024.

This work, developed in partnership with the Museum of Science of the University in Coimbra by Márcia Vilarigues, Ângela Santos, Alexandra Rodrigues, Carla Machado, Gilberto Pereira and Vanessa Otero, is entitled "Through the limelight: Analysing the earliest collection of magic lantern glass slides in Portugal".  (Abstract HERE)
The Programme (27-31 May) and Registration can be accessed HERE.

The 16th Edition of the EXPO FCT, organized by the NOVA School of Science and Technology at Campus de Caparica (Almada), will count on the participation of the MAGICA project.

On the 10th of April, several activities from all of the Departments will be presented to high-school students in an open-day format.

The MAGICA activity will be part of the Gustave Eiffel route and will be held from 9h30 am to 4 pm by our team member Ângela Santos. 

The Program and Registration can be accessed HERE.

The 1st Symposium of GMPM - Group for the investigation of Music in the Modern Period from CESEM will be held on 19-20 January at Colégio Almada Negreiros in Lisbon. It will be a hybrid event, with both in-person and online participation. 

This symposium will feature research developed within the framework of the MAGICA project, counting with presentations by our Co-PI Luísa Cymbron and our research members Luzia Rocha, Maria Sempiterno and Joana Peliz. 

Saturday, 20th of January | 10h-11h30 (GMT)

- Visualidades e música: em torno da lanterna mágica e do género músico-teatral “mágica” na Lisboa da segunda metade do século XIX (Luísa Cymbron)
- Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro e a Lanterna Mágica: o impacto iconográfico-musical e semiótico deste artefacto no periódico homónimo (Maio-Julho de 1875) (Luzia Rocha)
- Mapeamento de fontes para o estudo de “mágicas” em Portugal durante o século XIX: uma abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa (Maria Sempiterno)
- Uma “verdadeira féerie”: a Vénus de Acácio Antunes e Augusto Machado (Joana Peliz)

The Full Program and Zoom link can be accessed HERE.

The next MAGICA Workshop, "In search of Mágica: Research problems of a 19th-century Luso-Brazilian music-theatre genre", will be held in Lisbon on December 12th and 13th.

On the 12th of December, we will count on presentations by project members, with the special contribution of Tommaso Sabbatini, a music historian specializing in 19th-century French theatre.  

Tommaso Sabbatini will also give a presentation entitled "Researching fin-de-siècle Parisian theatre with music" on the 13th of December, at 6 pm GMT, at NOVA-FCSH.

More information HERE.

Our team members spent a week analysing 20 hand-painted magic lantern slides from the 18th and 19th centuries held at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra. Several analytical instruments travelled to the museum to examine the slides in situ. This investigation covers their historical background, the conservation state of glass and painting materials, and the multi-analytical characterisation of materials and painting techniques applied to these fascinating objects.

Preliminary results of this mission were presented for the first time by Ângela Santos, Alexandra Rodrigues, Carla Machado, Gilberto Pereira, Vanessa Otero, and Márcia Vilarigues, through the presentation entitled "Shedding light into the earliest collection of magic lantern slides in Portugal" at the II Encontro Nacional de História da Química (ENHQ) on 8-9 September and the work summary can be found HERE.

Our team members spent a week analysing 20 hand-painted magic lantern slides from the 18th and 19th centuries held at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra. Several analytical instruments travelled to the museum to examine them in situ. This investigation covers their historical background, the conservation state of glass and painting materials, and the multi-analytical characterisation of materials and painting techniques applied to these fascinating objects.

The preliminary results of this mission will be presented for the first time by Ângela Santos, Alexandra Rodrigues, Carla Machado, Gilberto Pereira, Vanessa Otero, and Márcia Vilarigues, through the oral presentation entitled "Shedding light into the earliest Portuguese collection of magic lantern slides" at the II Encontro Nacional de História da Química (ENHQ) to be held Online, on 8-9 September 2023.

Our team member Joana de Almeida Peliz will present the work entitled A “true féerie”: Antunes/Machado’s Venus and Some Transnational Dimensions of Luso-Brazilian Musical Theatre in the Long 19th Century at the 5th Transnational Opera Studies Conference.

TOSC@Lisboa.2023 is a biennial meeting aiming to unite the excellence and boldness of contemporary research on opera and musical theatre. This Conference, organised by our Co-Pi Luísa Cymbron with the Research Unit CESEM, will be held on 6-8 July 2023 at NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Lisbon.
For information on Registration and Programme, visit: TOSC@Lisboa.2023 

Our team members published two new Open Access journal articles this April! 

Ângela Santos et al. 2023. "Production of Hand-painted Magic Lantern Glass Slides: A Literature Review".  Studies in Conservation.

Tiago Veiga et al. 2023. "A First Approach to the Study of Winsor & Newton’s 19th-Century Manufacture of Madder Red Lake Pigments". Heritage 6(4), 3606-3621.

Go check them out in the "Publications" section! 

Our team member Ângela Santos will present the works entitled "The Carpenter & Westley's Art of Painting Magic Lantern Glass Slides: The Contribution of Material Characterisation Studies" at the MATERIAIS 2023 - Sustainability for a Future. 

MATERIAIS 2023 is a joint Conference that includes the XXI Congresso da Sociedade Portuguesa de Materiais and the XII International Symposium on Materials. This Conference will be held on 3-6 April 2023 at the Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarães.

Our PI, Márcia Vilarigues, and team member Vanessa Otero will respectively present the works entitled "Hand-painted magic lantern glass slides: the influence of the light source and materials on the projected images" and "Winsor & Newton's 19th-century manufacturing processes: How science unveils the artists' colorman choices". 

These works will be presented at the Science in Support of Technical Art History Symposium of the Crossroads of Chemistry, American Chemical Society Spring 2023 Metting. This Conference will be held on 26-30 March 2023 at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis.

Registration is open, and you can attend in person or virtually.

We are looking for PhD Candidates interested in applying to the Portuguese FCT Call for PhD Research Scholarships 2023 to obtain a PhD in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage within the FCT NOVA PhD Programme CORES. 

The PhD candidate may have a master’s degree in Conservation, Conservation Science, Materials Science, Chemistry, or any related field. We welcome PhD candidates of any nationality who have a strong sense of proactivity, teamwork, and responsibility.

Please, send your expression of interest together with your CV to magica@fct.unl.pt by the 17th of February, 2023. Interviews will be held in the last week of February 2023. The FCT Call for PhD Research Scholarships 2023 will be open from 01 to 31 March 2023.

Posted on 08 February 2023