Exploratorio - Centro Ciencia Viva de Coimbra, Coimbra

The Exploratório - Centro Ciência Viva de Coimbra is located in a complex of 2500 m 2. The Centro Ciência Viva Exploratory of Coimbra assumes itself as an entity for the promotion of scientific culture for the Centro Region. With two decades of existence, it was, in 1995 , the first science center to be created in Portugal. In 1998, it was integrated into the Ciência Viva network of centers and, in 2000 , it was recognized as Public Utility . It has structuring members, such as the University of Coimbra, the City Council of Coimbra, the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and the Bissaya Barreto Foundation.

In 2018 he received the Ecsite Mariano Gago Award.

After passing through the Municipal House of Culture, in temporary installations, the center benefited from a permanent building, erected in 2008, on the left bank of the Mondego. In 2015, the new Exploratory building was inaugurated, which includes the Hemispherium , a movie theater with a dome-shaped ceiling with a program that includes several films projected at 360º. The center is currently installed in a complex of 2500 m 2 divided into two fully functioning wings.

The Exploratory has several exhibitions in operation. The centre's main exhibition, Em Forma com a Ciência , opened in October 2015 and is installed in the new building. This exhibition, dedicated to themes related to health and well-being, is organized into seven boulevards, corresponding to each of the systems of the human body, which start from a central area corresponding to the brain. In addition to this exhibition, until the end of 2016, the temporary exhibition Pordata Viva: The Power of Data is also on display . This exhibition, inaugurated on November 24, 2015, on the National Day of Scientific Culture, was previously on display at the Pavilion of Knowledge in Lisbon, and addresses Portuguese society from a statistical point of view.

In the Hemispherium, the current programming of the Exploratory has four films with hemispheric projection: The Girl who walked backwards , The Night of the Vampire , Natural Selection and Escher's Universe.