Underrated Museums | National Tile Museum 🏛️✨

I've wanted to start this series for a long time! Across Europe, I make it a point to visit museums in every city, and along the way, I've discovered so many hidden gems—places most tourists skip but are full of surprises, or popular ones that exceed all expectations. 🗺️🔍 These museums shine in different ways—whether through their collections, exhibition design, or architecture. Of course, this is all subjective, but I still want to document these treasures. Not sure how many I'll write about (some visits were so long ago I don't even have photos!), but let's start with the most recent: Lisbon's National Tile Museum (Museu Nacional do Azulejo). 🧱🎨 The museum is housed in the 16th-century Madre de Deus Convent, showcasing Portugal's history of azulejos (glazed ceramic tiles) from the 1500s onward. Beyond the exhibits, it preserves several chapels and oratories, blending the convent's original architecture, religious art, and tile displays flawlessly. ⛪💎 What fascinated me most was how the exhibitions align with the building's timeline—galleries dedicated to the 16th/17th centuries are surrounded by surviving structures and tiles from that era! The museum is compact; I explored thoroughly and finished in ~2 hours (though I missed the chapel due to early closing… 😅). Don’t miss: 1️⃣ The ground-floor courtyard & tile-lined corridors, reminiscent of Moorish palaces like Seville's Alcázar or Pena Palace. 🌿🕌 2️⃣ The São Bento staircase (1st floor)—its tile patterns are unique! Also, the upper choir loft, extravagantly decorated, with a glass floor overlooking the chapel below (where nuns once attended mass unseen). 👑🪞 3️⃣ The 2nd-floor panoramic tile mural—a jaw-dropping wall depicting 18th-century Lisbon, complete with diagrams of key buildings. 🏙️🗺️ Pro tip: Download their free app "Azulejo"! It offers Chinese audio guides, color-coded narration (blue for exhibits, red for architecture), and is super user-friendly. 📱💙 P.S. My other Lisbon museum secret is Palácio Santos (now the French Embassy), famed for its Chinese porcelain ceiling. Sadly, it only opens 4 days/month with limited slots—I missed out! Check their website if you're curious. 🏰🍶 #ArtInMuseums #MuseumHopping #HiddenGemMuseums #PortugalTravel #LisbonTourism