Top 10 Madeira (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)

Madeira’s Top 10
10
Museu de Arte Sacra, Funchal
Madeira is not the first place you would think to look for some of the finest
Flemish masterpieces ever painted, but the 15th-century sugar trade between
Funchal and Antwerp (in modern Belgium) provides the link. Merchants and
plantation owners sought immortality by commissioning altarpieces for their
local churches, often depicting themselves and their families kneeling in
prayer. Thus the gorgeously colourful paintings gathered in this museum of
religious art serve also as portraits of some of the island’s first settlers.
Entrance Hall
The Renaissance
loggia facing onto
Praça do Município
has been converted
into the chic Café do
Museu. A great place
for a snack, lunch or
early evening meal,
the café serves
salads, pasta dishes,
soups and light
meals from 10am
to 7:30pm.
• Rua do Bispo 21
• Map P3
• 291 228 900
• Open 10am–12:30pm,
2:30–6pm Tue–Sat,
10am–1pm Sun
• Admission €3
Top 10 Features
1 Entrance Hall
2 Processional Cross
3 St Sebastian
4 The Last Supper Tableau
5 St James by Dieric Bouts
6 Deposition by Gerard David
7 Annunciation by Joost van
Cleve
8 St Philip and St James by
van Aelst
9 St Anne and St Joachim
0 The Machico Adoration
! Entrance Hall
The importance of the
bishop in local society is
reflected in the elegance
of his palace, which now
houses the museum.
Visitors enter through a
handsome hall floored with
pebbles forming swags
and garlands. The Baroque
stone staircase, dating
from the 1750s, is flanked
by gilded candelabra.
Processional Cross
@ This exquisite example
of the silversmith’s art
was donated at the dedication
of Funchal’s cathedral
in 1514 by King
Manuel I of Portugal
(1495–1521).
Tier upon tier
of Gothic
niches are
filled with tiny
figures of saints,
as well as dramatic
scenes
from the Passion
and Crucifixion
of Christ.
£ St Sebastian
This early 16thcentury
painted
stone statue,
carved by Diogo
Pires, is full of
holes that once
held arrows. St
Sebastian, the
Roman martyr,
was condemned to
death for his faith.
He miraculously
survived the arrows,
but was later beheaded.
$ The Last Supper
Tableau
This almost life-size tableau
in painted wood was carved
for the cathedral in 1648 by
Manuel Pereira. Judas, who
will betray Christ, sits alone
clutching a money bag.
For works of religious art still in their original setting
See pp40–41