Museu Nacional de Etnologia

The Museu Nacional de Etnologia, in Lisbon, keeps the memory of the ways of life of Portugal — and of the world: collections of rural life, crafts, music and traditions of the Portuguese people, together with the objects gathered in Africa and Asia in the time of the discoveries. It is one of the great museums of anthropology of the country, in the green quarter of Restelo.

The museum

The museum was created in the 1960s to gather and study the material culture of the Portuguese people, and its collections grew with the fieldwork of generations of researchers: the instruments of the rural trades, the looms and the pottery, the masks and the music of the festivals, and the great collections brought from the former colonies. In its exhibitions, the objects speak of the ways of life that shaped the country — and of the dialogue between peoples.

What to see

• The collections of rural life and crafts of Portugal.
• The masks, music and traditions of the festivals.
• The African and Asian collections of the museum.
• The exhibitions on the ways of life of the Portuguese people.

Visiting

The museum is in the Restelo, in the west of Lisbon, reached by bus and by road near Belém; the times and programmes follow the official information of the museum, and the visit combines well with the other museums and monuments of the western side of the city.

Nearby

The Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and the MAC/CCB are the great neighbours of the museum in Belém.

Information: museusemonumentos.pt.

Image credit: Museu Nacional de Etnologia, Lisboa, by Acediscovery, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.