Museum Aljube Resistência e Liberdade — Attraction in Lisbon

If you believe in democracy and freedom, you must visit this museum, especially if you are from a country that has no living memory of real repression (e.g. the US). This is a modern museum focused on a coherent narrative-driven experience that is both straightforward to follow, but in-depth enough to sate curiosity.

Portugal is at an interesting crossroads. 50 years of post-fascist history following a peaceful revolution on April 25, 1974, and undergoing an EU transformation and tourism explosion that is radically reshaping the country. In many ways, Portugal is an underdog of Europe, and it’s wonderful to see such a hardworking, generous, and welcoming country begin to prosper.

On the other hand, Portugal’s hands are still beet red from the anguish, destruction, and cruelty this country wrought onto the world, and must acknowledge that even on the other side of, arguably, 3+ centuries of domestic dark ages.

I have had very mixed experiences with Portuguese museums. Newer museums have been excellent. But hiding in the wings of even some recently-renovated ones are the dormant vestiges of the poisonous Estado Novo, in how Portugal’s former “glory,” of the slave/spice trade, the colonial conquests and subjugations, and even the sense that order above freedom in the Cold War is preferable. And this reflects the unfortunate reality that with all free societies, there exist people that wish we (or especially other people) were less free.

The Museum Aljube addresses the horrors of fascism and colonialism in a direct manner that I have never seen in Portugal. And I applaud them for it. Never does the museum vacillate about whether Salazar was “necessary,” or “reflective of the times.” He was against democracy and the regime he enabled had all the brutal trappings of authoritarianism, even if the US and the West conveniently turned a blind eye towards it during the Cold War.

There still lingers a popular belief that colonialism was a mixed legacy in the United States. Americans, if they know anything about Estado Novo, argue that it was a gentler form of the same 20th century fascism of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, or Franco. Obviously the Portuguese fascism never rose to the level of its more famous peers, but that doesn’t change the fact that it actively repressed dissent, and did so by using the Church and traditional values as a weapon, and venting dissent into brutalized colonies across its rump empire.

I applaud this museum and the tone it sets as Portugal continues to reckon with both being a forgotten minor power and a brutal imperial master. I hope the museum team finds success and serves their mission well as fighting authoritarianism through education, and that Portugal remembers the brutality of their dictatorship even after it fades from...

Overall my favorite museum in Lisboa and one of the best revolutionary museums out there. If you can only go to one museum then it definitely should be this one. It gives the best insight into recent Portuguese history and culture. The museum is located in one of the political prisons of the military dictatorship. First floor lays out the interwar political situation, how censorship and political hegemony was created, and how early resistors fought censorship at great personal risk. They have preserved very powerful and effective examples of these resistance newspapers. Second floor is more about the specific conditions in the prison and it is incredibly well done. Some excellent curational theory and experiencial portions. Made for a very powerful and emotional experience. Third floor which I HIGHLY recommend focuses on Portuguese colonies. This floor has some information that is hard to find anywhere else. I recommend pacing yourself through the museum well so that you spend enough time in this portion of the museum. This is an excellent museum that you can tell has a great curational staff/directors who put a lot of thought in how to present such important and powerful and sensitive material. The museum has great flow as well which something that is super important to me. Most of the material has been provided with English translations. The only material that was hard to follow for a non-Portuguese speaker were the second floor testimonials about the torture in the prisons. Even Portuguese subtitles would have been helpful. The first floor has most of the written information in Portuguese. If you speak Spanish or French you can decipher most of the information with a little bit of time. €1.50 Euros for those...

The subject matter is very interesting. That being said, it feels as if it assumes you have some previous knowledge of Portuguese history.

Floor by floor review - First floor - The exhibit itself isn't translated into English, but there is a QR code (which was not obvious at first glance) to a translation of each of the text boxes in order. That being said, the material was unclear at times, and reading an 88 slide powerpoint on my phone wasn't very comfortable. My friend gave up mid way.

Second floor- The most interesting floor in my opinion. Again, text is unclear at times. Perhaps my comprehension was hindered by the fact there is an extremely loud and annoying telephone ring every minute or so, which made it very hard to concentrate besides the fact it was just plain irritating. The ring is supposed to emulate how horrible the conditions were for political prisoners, but made me want to hurry along the exhibit and get it over with as fast as possible. If it was in a seperate room, or connected to headphones or something, it would have greatly increased my enjoyment in this floor and in general.

That being said, it was interesting.

Third floor - Was nice but not too clear where the start and end was.

I think a guide would have helped us learn and enjoy this a lot more - not sure if this is an option as we...