Sancho Querol, M. Lorena2009Sancho Querol , M L 2009 , A função social do património marítimo português . Edições Universitárias Lusófonas .Cadernos de SociomuseologiaDuring this study, we sought to fully define the role played by Portuguese maritime heritage in today’s society. Our work covered museological themes and, in this case, the Lisbon Maritime Museum; for which we have dealt with unique historical objects, situations, persons and moments. To meet our goal, we divided the work into four parts. The first part implied studying all museological and non-museological institutions involved with maritime heritage. In the second part, we studied the history of the Lisbon Maritime Museum in detail in order to define its social role through time. In the third part, we proposed to diagnose the museum’s current situation in detail. To do so, we carried out the first survey at this institution. Lastly, and based on the respective data, we created a museological structure that will be applied to update the said project. Consequently, we may conclude that the institution under study is a real museological phenomenon, not only for the appeal of its theme, but also because of its location and the content of its exhibits. Moreover, and taking into account the various potentials in question, we have decided to update this museological scenario since, as we confirmed, we know that it could play a much more complete, interesting and broader cultural role than what has been the case until now. That’s why, our last part covers, in particular, the future.application/pdfspaopenAccessMUSEOLOGIAMUSEUSPATRIMÓNIOPORTUGALMUSEOLOGYMUSEUMSHERITAGEPORTUGALother