The Casa de Mateus Foundation was established on December 3, 1970 by D. Francisco de Sousa Botelho de Albuquerque, Count of Mangualde, Vila Real and Melo, who donated a substantial part of its assets to the Commission.
Its objectives were clear: to ensure the persistence over time of a Heritage and share a memory that Matthew's House embodies and symbolizes.
This concern was not the exclusive prerogative of the settlor. Long before him, over successive generations, their ancestors were building the bases and gathering the means that enabled the safeguarding of family assets.
D. Francisco knew how to interpret this familiar pattern, updating it and creating the necessary conditions for their development in the XXI century.
The statutory purpose of the Casa de Mateus Foundation is the preservation of the house, the study of your file and the promotion of cultural, scientific and educational activities.
Today the Foundation is a dynamic organization, geared to the Community and to promote knowledge and excellence in its various interventions, occupies a prominent place in the national and international scene, it points to the collective effort and individual of the settlor family .