Museum of Lisbon / Pimenta Palace — Attraction in Lisbon

This museum is my favourite in Lisbon, exhibiting artefacts from the stone-age to the present. There are interesting displays of all periods (don’t forget to pull out the drawers beneath displays), an excellent and comprehensive collection of city paintings, beautiful tiles, an intricate model of the city and a lovely garden which includes a café and an exhibition space for contemporary Portuguese artists. All well worth the visit. But the most interesting area is the kitchen and the tiles which show a portrait of an eighteenth century slave cook. In the first half of the eighteenth century there were 150,000 residents in Lisbon of which 22,500 were slaves, 15% of the population, and this woman was one of them. Who was she, this cook? What is she thinking? She’s not looking at the fish she’s scaling but looks out and away. She seems lost in a reverie of memory - of longing, of loss. Astonishingly, her portrait has sailed through time and now graces the kitchen wall of Palacio Pimenta, the Lisbon Museum. the information beside her states - “The tile panel shows a black woman, in all probability a slave, cleaning several fish… the panel was found in a building near Martim-Moniz Square on the inner wall of a chimney though it is evident this was not its original location.” Apart from these bald statements of the panel’s origin we know nothing about the portrait but the tiles were placed in the kitchen when it was restored in 1984. I can only guess this is an acknowledgement to the deep roots of slavery in this city, and the significant role captive and free African-Portuguese played in building Lisbon. There is little to say it but I can only hope that is why she is placed there. It is an astonishing memorial that...

The National Museum of Lisboa has got to be one of my most favorite museums in the entire world. This was one of the last places I visited for my trip in Lisbon, so it's really the cherry on top for my experience in this wonderful city.

I got to learn about everything from how humans settled into Lisbon thousands of years ago, how many different cultures (the Romans, the Crusaders, the Moors) came to govern Portugal and how the influence of the East allowed the city to be adorned in such beautiful tiles.

There are two main buildings that guide you through the history of the city. Then there is a garden and a park with a third building that houses a contemporary art gallery. The garden currently has beautiful porcelain animal sculptures done by Joana Vasconcelos displayed throughout. It gives the garden such a living magical quality that it brings out the inner child in you. It is simply wonderful to see a giant snail climbing up a wall or a black cat chasing off birds on the rooftop.

The park is simple but elegant, with a large pool featuring Greek-esque sculptures. And you'll be surprised to find many peacocks roaming freely around. This really brought a lot of joy to me. They are such beautiful creatures and I never thought I could get that close to them. They can, however, be a little aggressive so please be respectful and do not feed or attempt to touch them. Other than that, they're pretty docile and seem to be used to human presence.

And the best part is you can experience all of this for just 3€ (at the time of this writing).

I highly recommend visiting this...

The biggest shoutout to Raquel who made this trip special for me. I chanced upon her when she was free, and she voluntarily gave me an in-depth tour of the entire museum, relentlessly helpful in feeding my information on European history, colonisation, Portuguese culture, important figures… et cetera. She respectfully covered slavery, an often overlooked aspect of history.

As a social sciences graduate, I have experienced many teachers and believe me: I truly admire Raquel for being a selfless and passionate advocate for history, sociology and to promote deep understanding for whoever’s listening.

Thank you so much Raquel for making the biggest difference to my Lisbon trip. I have been recommending this museum to many friends because of my very special experience.

On top of my appreciated tour, this museum is extremely detailed. It contains artefacts all the way from the stone age till today, and it has pull-out drawers for elaborated understanding.

Once again, to the museum, please thank Raquel for being fully passionate and inspiring. I will come back...