The Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (ACL), originally Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa due to its royal protection, was founded in 1779, during the reign of Dona Maria I.
The Venue
In 1834, the old Convento de Jesus became the house of the Academia das Ciências, which had been founded in 1779. This institution has hosted an early attempt (1793) to compile a monolingual dictionary, which was only fully achieved in the 20th century (2001), in quite different terms.
The Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (ACL), originally Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa due to its royal protection, was founded in 1779, during the reign of Dona Maria I.
The institution’s emblem represents Minerva, the goddess of Wisdom and War, with the mercury rod and the shield with the Portuguese royal arms, under the inspiring sign of a verse by Phaedrus: ‘Nisi utile est quod facimus stulta est gloria’ [If what we do is not useful, glory is in vain], symbolising the alliance between knowledge and royal power.
