National Museum of Ethnology
In Restelo, forty thousand objects from 380 cultures on five continents, with visitable storerooms of Portuguese rural life, the Amazon and Africa.
National Museum of Ethnology
The National Museum of Ethnology, in Restelo, holds one of the richest ethnographic collections in Europe: some forty thousand objects from 380 cultures, 81 countries and all five continents. It was created in 1965 as the Museum of Overseas Ethnology, with "the ambitious programme of representing the cultures of the peoples of the globe", by the team of Jorge Dias, its first director, with Margot Dias, Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira, Fernando Galhano and Benjamim Pereira. The building, designed by the architect António Saragga Seabra, opened in 1976 and was extended in 2000 by Eduardo Trigo de Sousa; the present name dates from 1990. The collection is particularly strong in mainland and island Portugal and the former overseas territories, but reaches from the Brazilian Amazon to Indonesia, by way of Africa. The exhibition "O museu, muitas coisas" shows a selection of pieces, and the visitable storerooms – the Galleries of Rural Life, of the Amazon and of Africa – offer a glimpse behind the scenes of a museum, with ploughs, masks, instruments and everyday objects from around the world.
Located at: Museu Nacional de Etnologia
Address: Avenida da Ilha da Madeira, 1400-203 Lisboa
Opening hours: 10:00-18:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Phone: +351 213 041 160
Coordinates: 38.7048369, -9.2084872
Buses: 714, 732, 728, 751
Opened: 1965 (61 years)
