Vasco da Gama Aquarium
In Dafundo, one of the oldest public aquariums in the world, opened in 1898, with live fish from the Portuguese coast and King Carlos I’s oceanographic collections.
Vasco da Gama Aquarium
The Vasco da Gama Aquarium, in Dafundo on the banks of the Tagus, is one of the oldest public aquariums in the world still in operation. It opened on 20 May 1898, as part of the celebrations of the fourth centenary of Vasco da Gama's voyage to India, and in 1901 it was handed over to the Portuguese Navy, which still runs it today. At the opening, King Carlos I showed in one of its rooms the zoological specimens gathered on his first oceanographic campaigns, in 1896 and 1897; in 1935 the Aquarium received the bequest of the collection of the King Carlos I Oceanographic Museum, which remains the heart of its museum. Between 1920 and 1950 it also housed a Marine Biology Station. A visit brings two worlds together: the tanks of live freshwater, saltwater and brackish-water species, with pride of place given to the fauna of the Portuguese coast, and the museum rooms, with the great hall and its ornate ceiling, the display cases of seabirds and marine mammals, and the shark room. It lies just outside Lisbon, in the municipality of Oeiras, a few minutes from Belém.
Located at: Aquário Vasco da Gama
Address: Rua Direita do Dafundo, 1495-718 Cruz Quebrada-Dafundo
Opening hours: 10:00-18:00 (open every day; last entry 17:30)
Phone: +351 214 205 000
Coordinates: 38.6992104, -9.2385969
Buses: 776, 1106 (Carris Metropolitana), 723, 729, 750, 751
Tram: 15E
Train: Cascais Line, Algés Station
Opened: 1898 (128 years)
