There is a National Art Museum in Aveiro (Portugal), housed inside an ancient convent since 1911. Its collection is shown in a permanent as well as in various temporary exhibitions. Its fame owes not only to the collection itself but also to the fact that the daughter of a Portuguese king lived there as a Dominican nun in the 15 th century. What is quite unknown, however, something hardly noticeable to visitors, is that between 1884 and 1910 the building was used as a girls' school which proved

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... to be crucial for the development of women's education in this part of the country. There is much documentation from the period that has yet to be brought to light, including letters, reports, photos and, more recently, a series of testimonies given by descendants of students who studied in the institution. This chapter attempts to bring together those memories of the school that, for the time being, remain hidden inside the walls of an art museum.