Communications Museum
By the river, five centuries of post and telecommunications in Portugal, from the mail coach to submarine cables and the internet.
Communications Museum – Portuguese Communications Foundation
Housed in a 1940s building on Lisbon’s riverfront, the Communications Museum is the most visible face of the Portuguese Communications Foundation, established on 6 October 1997 by the then Instituto das Comunicações de Portugal (now ANACOM), CTT and Portugal Telecom. The building, designed by the architect João Simões Antunes and completed in 1946, housed the H. Vaultier factory and, from 1973, a Telex exchange; its original façade was preserved when it was restored. The permanent exhibition, “Vencer a Distância – Five Centuries of Communications in Portugal”, traces the history of the sector chronologically, from the establishment of the post as a public service in the 16th century to telecommunications networks, the internet and the media, with collections whose origins go back to the first communications museum, the Museo Postal of 1877, and a philately section with original stamp designs. The Mala-Posta section recreates at full scale a mail-coach relay station of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the Submarine Cables section shows the three generations of cable – telegraph, coaxial and optical – with a telegraph to try out. Temporary exhibitions, workshops, a library and a historical archive complete the offer.
Located at: Fundação Portuguesa das Comunicações
Address: Rua do Instituto Industrial, 16, 1200-225 Lisboa
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 10:00-18:00; Saturday 14:00-18:00 (closed on Sundays and public holidays); open until 22:00 on the last Thursday of the month
Phone: +351 213 935 000
Coordinates: 38.707818, -9.150462
Buses: 774, 22B, 706, 714, 728, 732, 760, 727, 67B
Tram: 25E, 15E, 18E, 28E
Metro: Cais do Sodré (Green)
Train: Cascais Line, Santos Station, Cascais Line, Cais do Sodré Station
Boat: Cais do Sodré River Station
Opened: 1997 (29 years)
