Museum of Underwater Life

Municipal Museum of Underwater Life – Portuguese Centre for Underwater Activities

In Restelo, at the headquarters of the Centro Português de Actividades Subaquáticas (CPAS), the Municipal Museum of Underwater Life brings together the material gathered over decades by the divers of this association, founded in 1953 and described as the oldest diving association in Europe. On expeditions to the Azores, Madeira, the African continent and the Portuguese coast, its members brought up archaeological pieces and marine species from the seabed, later joined by their own diving equipment and gifts from members. In 1969 the collections were offered to Lisbon City Council with one aim: to create the Municipal Museum of Underwater Life and Submerged History. The holdings are organised in three sections: underwater archaeology, with artefacts from submerged river and sea sites that tell stories of Antiquity and of shipwrecks; marine biology, with corals, shells, bryozoans, sponges and fossils from various reefs and oceans; and diving equipment, which tells the history of diving. CPAS, a pioneer of underwater archaeology in Portugal since 1959, reconditioned the more than 1,300 pieces of its archaeological collections between 2006 and 2008. The museum has three exhibition rooms, currently being refurbished and renovated, and a library holding its archives; visits are by prior appointment only.

Located at: Centro Português de Actividades Subaquáticas
Address: Rua Alto do Duque, 45, 1400-009 Lisboa
Opening hours: by appointment only (museu@cpas.pt); rooms being refurbished
Phone: +351 213 016 961
Coordinates: 38.7013256, -9.2223806
Buses: 751, 750
Tram: 15E
Train: Cascais Line, Algés Station