Alfandega Congress Center — Attraction in Porto

Really disappointing experience at the Terracotta Army exhibition.

The tickets were 15€ per adult which I think is really high anyway, but the exhibition itself was a total shambles.

I think it’s supposed to be a ‘plug and play’ showcase that is obviously touring in other countries. For such a historically significant and astounding discovery, the curation was miserable.

The signage was all laid out incorrectly so it was unclear what the chronology of the story was, further it didn’t correlate to the audio guide and the audio and signage seemed to disagree on certain facts! Many of the boxes were cracked and it was just generally a huge disappointment.

Something really heart breaking about seeing such incredible monuments totally mutilated into cash cows with little to no care or thought in the viewers experience. I have no problem paying a little more for a well curated and thoughtful exhibition but frankly we left feeling quite dejected.

I have included some photos of the cool parts of the exhibition, because the artefacts themselves are fantastic. However do your own research before as this lacklustre exhibition will only leave you with more questions and a heavy heart!

EDIT: just went home to find out more information on the Terracotta Army and realised the video they play in the exhibition (the only really clear information) is actually a National Geographic video that can be found on YouTube - from 12 years ago!!!

Boo...

Alfandega is a wonderful multi-use space on the waterfront in Porto. The New Customs House, as it is known, was built from 1859 to 1869 on the Douro at Miragaia beach. It replaced the original customs house in Ribeira now a museum called Casa do Infante. A rail line connected the the east side of the building to Campanhã station and parts are still visible in Fontainhas. It was used for over 100 years before the customs services were relocated in part due to the airport. It has been the city's transportation museum since the 1990's. Today, the space is used for museums, trade shows, car shows, weddings, etc. It is currently the home to the Living Van Gogh immersive experience, museum of official cars of the Portuguese presidents, museum for the customs house, and the 40 meters long Panel Ribeira Negra by Julio Resende. The building is large and impressive with tracks in the floor for the carts used to move the goods through the building. Iron columns support curved ceiling sections. The waterfront behind the building is privileged with fantastic views and a recently restored crane once used to offload ships. Services include a cafe, toilets, and staffed information booth. Paid parking is adjacent and bus...

I've been at Alfândega a couple of times before for different exibitions and both have been positive (Porto Legends, which was fantastic, and Van Gogh, which was ok). But yesterday I took my mother to see the one about Egypt and we were utterly disappointed. Repairs were being done to elevators and they were preparing another event, it was so noisy and busy that my mother had to raise the volume of her headphones to muffle the noise around. There was an awful smell of plastic and metal (due to the repairs, so I was told) which made it impossible for me to stay and watch the show. The exibition itself was VERY POOR quality, soundtrack was awful and no interesting facts of stories were presented, not worth the money...