Piece of the Month

The “Piece of the Month” initiative aims to introduce some of the pieces from the Vila do Conde Museum collection in an unexpected setting, sparking curiosity and encouraging visitors to discover the Museum. Each month, different objects and documents from the Museum’s collections are displayed at the Town Hall.

For September, the Vila do Conde Museum has selected a Woulff bottle for display. The piece comes from the former S. José College and, together with other objects from the collection, belongs to Vila do Conde Municipal Council.

Woulff bottles are characterised by two or three openings at the top. Depending on their purpose, each opening could be connected to an accessory, such as a thermometer, glass rod or cork stopper, or to similar containers using thin glass tubes and rubber hoses. The name derives from Irish chemist and mineralogist Peter Woulff (1727–1803).

The S. José College, owned by the Casal Pelayo family, operated in Vila do Conde from 1954 to 1987, in the present-day Municipal Youth Centre building on Avenida Júlio Graça. Housed in a former Art Deco building that had previously accommodated the Vila do Conde Casino, it was established as a private educational institution, offering primary, secondary and technical education in boarding, semi-boarding and day-school formats.

Over its 33 years of activity, the college played an important role in the education of several generations of Vila do Conde residents and remains part of the city’s collective memory.