Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (‘SCML’), Portugal’s 500-year-old social enterprise organisation and keeper of the Museum and Church of São Roque in Lisbon that houses one of the most important religious collections in Catholic Europe, announced today its entry into the digital world of NFTs or non-fungible tokens with the launch of Artentik, its brand and marketplace for NFTs.

In much the same way as William Caxton’s printing press opened the door to a broader appreciation of books in the 15^th century, so NFTs have created a way for museums and art galleries to share their beautiful and priceless artworks and artefacts with a global audience.

Artentik will be SCML’s curated platform to share digital twins of its treasures and encourage living artists to also sell their works as NFTs. This will enable SCML to monetize and promote its unique cultural heritage to the world while continuing its extensive 500-year support to social causes.

The first NFT drop will take place in December and is drawn from SCML’s sacred art collection, one of the finest in the world.

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In the first drop, Artentik will present a set of 13 assets in three art categories – Painting, Relics and Artefacts – about St. Francis Xavier, Christmas and the Nativity. They are unique pieces of an immeasurable richness and symbolism.

Future drops will be drawn from SCML’s expansive collection of art, relics, reliquaries, sculptures, music and new artists.

“In Lisbon, SCML enjoys a warm relationship with residents and visitors to the museum and church and we see a way of extending that relationship globally, and to new generations, through NFTs,” says Edmundo Martinho, President of SCML.

“We have 500 years’ worth of priceless treasures from baroque art to graffiti art that we are keen to share with lovers of art, antiquities and religious history. By creating our own digital window, Artentik, people can view our unique cultural assets, own a digital replica of them through NFTs, and know that the proceeds will be used for social enterprise activities. This is a cultural democratisation of museums, and we are delighted to embrace it,” he added.

Artentik, www.artentik.com, is built on Polygon Layer 2 Ethereum blockchain offering faster transaction speeds, Proof of Stake leading to minimum environmental impact, and reliability. Payment for NFTs will only be accepted in cryptocurrency. Artentik is a joint venture with Boloro Global Limited, a New York City based technology company.

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