Museums in Lisbon

The Lisbon Story Centre is a multimedia museum in Praça do Comércio that traces the city's history from mythological origins through the 1755 earthquake to the present. An audio-guided tour leads through six immersive rooms.

The Museu do Fado in Alfama is an interactive museum dedicated to Lisbon's signature musical form — the soulful, melancholic Fado. Multimedia stations, original instruments, and rare recordings trace the genre from its 19th-century roots to modern reinventions.

The Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga is Portugal's premier fine arts museum, housing European painting from the 14th to 19th centuries in a 17th-century palace on the western waterfront. Its collections rival many national galleries across Europe.

The Museu Nacional dos Coches houses the world's finest collection of royal ceremonial carriages, spanning the 16th to 19th centuries. A sleek modern building by Paulo Mendes da Rocha (opened 2015) displays the vehicles in dramatic, gallery-like spaces.

The National Tile Museum is one of Lisbon's most distinctive museums, tracing the 500-year history of Portuguese azulejo ceramic tiles in a stunning 16th-century convent. No other museum in the world is dedicated to this art form.

The Berardo Collection Museum in the Belém Cultural Centre houses one of Europe's most important collections of modern and contemporary art, with works from 1900 to the present. Free permanent admission makes it one of Lisbon's best cultural bargains.

The Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência occupies the buildings of the former Polytechnic Academy, combining natural history collections with an attached botanical garden. Its mineral and zoological collections date to the 18th century.

MAAT — the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology — occupies a stunning wave-shaped ceramic building by Amanda Levete on the Belém waterfront. Its exhibitions bridge contemporary art, urban design, and scientific inquiry.