Maria João Bustorff

In July 2004, Bustorff was chosen by Pedro Santana Lopes to become Minister of Culture in his government. Her choice was widely considered as a surprise. The government would resign some months later, and after leaving her post she joined the Board of Arqueonautas Worldwide.

Bustorff expanded the work of the Foundation, which until she joined had been limited to Portugal, into Brazil, hoping to protect and conserve Portuguese heritage throughout the world. One of her first projects there was restoration of the Franciscan Monastery of St. Anthony Church in Igarassu, Pernambuco. The project earned the backing of the European Union's cultural division to protect heritage and at the time was the only organization trying to protect the Baroque art heritage in Latin America. For her work, in 1998 she was awarded the National Cross of the South from Brazil and a few months later received the Order of Merit from Portugal as Grand Officer.

Maria João Espírito Santo Bustorff was born on 13 August, 1950 in Lisbon, Portugal to António Sérgio Carneiro Bustorff Silva and Ana Maria da Anunciação de Fátima de Morais Sarmento Cohen do Espírito Santo Silva. In 1973, she obtained a degree in social and political sciences from the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa and then taught sociology at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. In 1987, she joined the executive board of the Ricardo Espírito Santo Foundation [pl; pt], which operates facilities in Portugal and Brazil including a museum, two schools—the Institute of Art and Crafts and the School of Decorative Arts—and restoration workshops. All are involved in preservation of crafts and restoration of furniture and furnishings.