The best Lisbon museums

A plain building that was once the Royal Silk and Textile Workshop now houses this foundation, dedicated to exhibiting and promoting research into the work of Portuguese modernist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and her Hungarian husband and fellow painter Arpad Szenes. Although the couple lived in France for many years and played a central role in the School of Paris, they’re also iconic figures in Portugal. As well as housing and displaying a large permanent collection of their works, the foundation puts on regular exhibitions showcasing artists connected to the couple, such as Fernand Léger and Marc Chagall.

The 18th-century Palácio Pimenta houses this city-run museum charting Lisbon’s history. Some displays are on the skimpy side, but they cover the ground as best as they can, starting with the Stone Age, then working through Roman times to the Visigoths and Moors and into modern times. The highlights, though, are a scale model of Lisbon before the earthquake in 1755, the fabulous kitchens and the formal garden where peacocks prance about – also where you’ll find Pavilhão Branco, an important contemporary art space. The museum has been carrying out important restoration work, so check the website for relevant and updated information on opening dates and times.

French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte redesigned the museum in 1994, giving it a cool, modernist edge, and it currently houses a permanent collection encompassing a century’s worth of Portuguese art from 1850 onward, from Romanticism to Neo-realism.

This little museum near the Sé Catedral opened in 2015 in a building with some heavy history. Aljube was formerly an ecclesiastical prison, before becoming a jail for women and, in 1928, during Salazar’s “Estado Novo”, it was where political prisoners were held. The perpetuation of the dictatorial regime depended greatly on the repressive actions and censorship enacted by the regime’s security agency, which you can find out more about through documents included in the museum’s collections.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to have an enduring presence in Asia. Museu do Oriente, which opened in 2008, walks you through the story. The core exhibition includes unique maps and charts, priceless 17th and 18th-century Chinese and Japanese painted screens and other Namban (Western-influenced) art, as well as an important collection of artefacts from Timor. The museum runs courses on everything from languages to cooking and ikebana (the Japanese art of flower arrangement), and hosts Asian, fusion and world music and dance performances. The top-floor restaurant (+351 21 358 5228) offers some fantastic views.

Housed in a grand 18th-century former convent, the museum contains more than 800 puppets from Portugal and other countries around the world, some specially created for operas staged by its founders, puppet maker Helena Vaz and the late composer João Alberto Gil. The convent’s former chapel serves as a theatre for puppet shows.

The museum is housed in a former convent and it charts the development of Portuguese tile art since the 15th century, including a panel depicting Lisbon before the 1755 earthquake and some striking contemporary azulejos (tiles). The building is a treat, with a tiny Manueline cloister and a barrel-vaulted church. The shop sells beautiful tiles and there’s a lovely cafe.

Portuguese artist Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846-1905) had a ceramics factory in Caldas da Rainha, producing fantastic, colourful designs. The museum showcases pieces like a pig’s head on a platter and frogs climbing up vases and poles. He was also a caricaturist, using his depiction of a Portuguese everyman, Zé Povinho, to criticize the pomposity of public figures.

Its architectural shape was the highlight of 2016 and it made pretty much everyone have a good reason to visit Belém. Even if just for this new building, designed by British architect Amanda Levete, and that sunset in the background – hello Instagram material. But there are definitely more reasons to visit the place. Check their calendar for current or upcoming exhibitions.