Portugal

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EXPLORING LISBON
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MORE ATTRACTIONS
18th-century life in a hyper-upscale home. A bookstore and coffee shop are on the premises,
and a battalion of attentive guards protect the lavish art objects inside as if they were
their own. Anyone interested in the decorative arts in general and the Portuguese Empire
in particular will find this collection fascinating.
Largo das Portas do Sol 2. & 21/881-46-00. Fax 21/881-46-37. www.fress.pt. Admission 4€ adults, 2€
seniors, free for children under 12. Tues–Sun 10am–5pm. Tram: 12 or 28. Bus: 37.
MUDE A cultural highlight of the Baixa district, this museum opened in 2009 in the
Palácio Verride, a former palace at the Santa Catarina viewing point. Mude means change
in Portuguese, and that is what this Museum of Design and Fashion is all about. The
museum is the venue for ever-changing temporary exhibitions, but it also has a permanent
collection, including some 1,200 couture pieces. Designs are by such luminaries as
the famed architect Frank O. Gehry or else André Arbus. You never know what’s going
to be on display. Are you old enough to remember the swimsuit by Rudi Gernreich?
Perhaps the miniskirt by André Courrèges? From more recent times, perhaps couture by
London’s Vivienne Westwood.
Rua Augusta 24. & 21/888-61-17. Free admission (subject to change). Tues–Thurs and Sun 10am–8pm;
Fri–sat 10am–8pm. Metro: Baixa/Chiado.
Museu Archeologico do Carmo No other Lisbon museum so well conveys the
sensation that you’ve wandered into a living relic and witness to history. Here, the ruined
nave of a church, originally built in 1389, stands in a state of partial collapse—a victim
of damages wrought during the great earthquake of 1755 when many parishioners died
inside. Some back rooms contain a dusty collection of exhibits, such as historic azulejos
(glazed tiles), but the star of the museum is the church itself. Unlike several nearby
monuments, the church was not rebuilt but somehow survived despite further indignities
inflicted upon it over the years, including vandalisms by French soldiers occupying Lisbon
during the Napoleonic wars. To many Lisboans, it’s the most visible symbol of the
1755 earthquake, the single monument that most aggressively piques their sense of history
and sense of loss.
Largo do Carmo. & 21/346-04-73. Admission 2.50€ adults; 1.50€ students, free for children under 14.
Apr–Sept daily 10am–6pm; Oct–Mar daily 10am–5pm. Metro: Chiado.
Museu da Farmácia Founded in 1996 in a former palace, this pharmacy museum
covers more than 5,000 years of pharmaceutical history, from 3600 B.C. to techniques
developed for upcoming voyages to Mars. Four pharmacies from 18th to the 20th centuries
have been reconstructed. There are antique exhibits that go back to ancient Egypt
or Mesopotamia. One of these exhibits is from a 19th-century Chinese drugstore from
Portugal’s former territory of Macao, off the coast of China.
Rua Maréchal Saldanha. & 21/340-06-80. Admission 5€ adults, 3.50€ students and seniors, free for
children 2 and under. Mon–Fri 10am–6pm. Metro: Cais do Sodré.
Museu de São Roque/Igreja de São Roque The Jesuits, who at one time were
so powerful they virtually governed Portugal, founded St. Roque Church in the late 16th
century. Beneath its painted wood ceiling, the church contains a celebrated chapel by
Luigi Vanvitelli honoring John the Baptist. The chapel, ordered by the Bragança king
João V in 1741, was assembled in Rome from such precious materials as alabaster
and lapis lazuli, and then dismantled, shipped to Lisbon, and reassembled. The marble
mosaics look like a painting. You can also visit the sacristy, rich in paintings illustrating
scenes from the lives of saints pertaining to the Society of Jesus.