When he died in 1968, António de Almeida, engineer and a director and Vice-President of Espírito Santo Bank for many years, established in his will an educational and charitable foundation under his own name. He donated his art collection to the foundation and this is now on display in the museum. It includes one of Portugal’s most important numismatic collections consisting mainly of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Portuguese and French coins. Also on display are furniture, paintings, textiles, porcelain, jewellery and clocks.