Sacavém Ceramic Museum — Attraction in Loures

The Sacavém factory was a renowned manufacturer of tiles and ceramics and a major employer in Sacavém. This delightful museum records its history from its founding in the 1860s to its demise over a 100 years later. They produced tiles for a number of significant buildings including those in Sao Bento train station in Porto, the old train station in Lagos in the Algarve and buildings across Lisbon. They also designed and produced plates and other items as well as sanitary ware. Sacavém is a 14 minute train ride from Santa Apoliona train station in Lisbon and a return ticket costs 3.30€. Turn left out of the station and it’s less than a 5 minute walk. The museum houses one of the old Bottle Kilns and has a display of cups and plates produced by the factory. The upper floor is used as an exhibition space which changes at intervals. There is also a library housing records of the original designs produced by the artists employed to produce designs for the tiles and ceramics and an archive of factory orders alongside a host of books on ceramics from across the world. Pay on exit! 1.50€ or free if you are over 65. If you like the tiled buildings you see in Lisbon this small museum is well worth a visit. Staff are amazingly friendly and helpful. Sacavém itself doesn’t have too much to offer. There’s a fort but it’s not open to the public! Not much of a town centre which is surprising given the size of the town but there a few coffee shops and large supermarkets. Well...

In this museum you can find out about the history of Sacavem ceramic factory since the foundation to the current time that is a museum. The ground floor consists of the samples of ceramics manufactured here and on a wall there is a timeline of important events, all in Portuguese. Then there is the huge kiln where they used to make ceramics. there is English description in here as well. On the second floor there is temporary exhibition. The staff are very friendly, willing to help, explain and impart their passion plus that one of them could speak English as well. The entrance is free on Sundays before 13 and the museum is close to train station and it is easy...

Sou da terra, por isso pode parecer exigente ou, o contrário, entusiasta com pouco. Já na visitava o museu à quase quinze anos. Achei-o melhor (talvez porque não me lembre bem). Visitável, tem duas salas. Uma com uma exposição permanente, onde conta a história da Fábrica da Loiça de Sacavém e, mostra peças significativas, por períodos. Tem também catálogos de azulejos. A outra sala, tem exposições temporárias. Neste momento, está uma sobre pedaços de peças e sua identificação, achados numa escavação feita no Convento de Tomar. Nesta sala estão também as marcas das fábrica com respetivas peças. Ficou também um forno da fábrica com sua chaminé, o ex-líbris do museu. Nesse espaço estão peças de laboratório. Tem uma loja. Pensava encontrar mais peças repostas, se bem, que o espólio do museu é enorma, como lá, nos explicaram. O divertido é ver peças que fizeram parte do nosso dia a dia e algumas outras, curiosas. No dia que fomos não pagamos entrada, mas o bilhete custa €1,5. Merece ser visitado, é uma parte muito importante da história de Sacavém e, pedaço da história...