Water Museum

Water Museum – Barbadinhos Steam Pumping Station

Housed in the former Barbadinhos Steam Pumping Station, the main site of EPAL's Water Museum tells the story of Lisbon's water supply from Roman times to the present day. The building stands within the grounds of a former convent of the Italian Barbadinhos friars, next to the final reservoir of the Alviela aqueduct, built in 1871-1880 to bring water collected 114 km north of the city; the station, designed to pump that water into Lisbon, was inaugurated on 3 October 1880 and worked until 1928. It still holds its four steam engines, made by the French firm E. Windsor & Fils of Rouen and bought in 1876, together with their pumps, a remarkable example of industrial archaeology; the five boilers and the 40-metre chimney were demolished in the 1950s. The idea of a museum dates back to 1919, at the old Lisbon Water Company, but the permanent exhibition was only installed in 1987, and in 1990 the museum received the Council of Europe Museum Prize. Listed as a Set of Public Interest in 2010 and refurbished in works begun at the end of 2013, the building now houses the permanent exhibition, EPAL's Historical Archive and a room for temporary exhibitions and conferences.

Located at: Museu da Água – EPAL
Address: Rua do Alviela, 12, 1170-012 Lisboa
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 (closed on Mondays and public holidays)
Phone: +351 218 100 215
Coordinates: 38.7199058, -9.1196491
Buses: 706, 37B, 759, 735, 712, 13B, 728, 794
Metro: Santa Apolónia (Blue)
Train: Azambuja Line, Santa Apolónia Station
Opened: 1987 (39 years)