Lactário Museum

Lactário Museum – Aboim Sande Lemos Foundation

Near Santa Apolónia, on Largo do Museu de Artilharia, the Lactário Museum tells the story of the pioneering institution that, in 1903, opened the first milk station in the country. It was created in 2019 by the Aboim Sande Lemos Foundation, which restored, conserved and studied the collection. Its origins lie in the Associação Protectora da Primeira Infância, founded in 1901 by Colonel Rodrigo António Aboim Ascensão (1859-1930), who commanded the Cavalry Company of the Fiscal Guard in Alfama and sought to improve the living conditions of the neighbourhood's children. Inspired by the gouttes-de-lait of the French paediatrician Léon Dufour, the Lactário distributed quality-controlled cow's milk daily and free of charge, on medical prescription, and provided paediatric, hygiene and social support, in buildings designed by the architect Miguel Ventura Terra. The route is divided into two areas: one devoted to the institution's creation and its founder, with painting, sculpture and founding documents, and another that recreates the former services, from milk production to the bath-school where mothers learnt to care for their babies' hygiene. The highlight is the four incubators for premature babies acquired in 1903, the first in the country, devised by the Frenchman Alexandre Lion and shown at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition. Visits are always guided and require prior booking, and the museum closes in August.

Located at: Museu do Lactário
Address: Largo do Museu de Artilharia, 2, 1100-366 Lisboa
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 10:00-17:00, guided visits by prior booking only (closed at weekends and in August)
Phone: +351 218 861 760
Coordinates: 38.712333, -9.125139
Buses: 734, 10B, 13B, 728, 735, 759, 794, 781, 782, 706
Tram: 12E, 28E
Metro: Santa Apolónia (Blue)
Train: Azambuja Line, Santa Apolónia Station
Opened: 2019 (7 years)