Maritime Museum (Museu de Marinha; Navy Museum)
Lisbon's Maritime Museum or Navy Museum (Museu de Marinha) is located in the west wing of the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos close to Belem Tower in the Belem district of Lisbon. There is also a more modern annex of the museum north of the monastery.
History
The Museu de Marinha, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, is dedicated to the history of Portuguese ships, shipbuilding, seafarers and nautical navigation particularly during the Age of Discoveries.
This was when Portuguese boats traversed the oceans of the globe on sea routes to India, Africa, Asia and South America reaching such far flung places as Macau and Japan.
Exhibits
The museum has a huge collection of around 17,000 exhibits including real ships, model ships, flags, figureheads, maps, globes, sea charts, paintings, arms and armor and various nautical instruments such as astrolabes and telescopes. Highlights include two richly decorated royal barges dating from the 18th century, the Santa Cruz, a sea plane that crossed the South Atlantic in 1922, and the cabin of the 19th century royal yacht built for Queen Amelia.
One of the oldest exhibits is a wooden figure of the Archangel Raphael taken on board Vasco da Gama's ship to India along with a globe made by Willem Jansz Blaeu in 1645 and an anchor from the ship Nina that was part of the flotilla that went on Columbus' first voyage to America.
The Maritime Museum has its roots in the collection of King Luis I, who began to keep and maintain important historical items related to Portugal's rich maritime past. The museum on its present site opened in 1963 and is in the same square as the Planetário de Marinha (formerly the Planetário Calouste Gulbenkian). The huge west wing of the monastery was formerly the monks' dormitory and also houses the National Museum of Archaeology.
Access - Getting There
Maritime Museum
Praça do Império
1449-003 Lisboa
Tel: 21 362 0019
Buses: #28, #714, #727, #729 or #751. Tram: #15 from Cais do Sodre; From Cascais or Cais do Sodre on the Cascais Line (Linha de Cascais) get out at Belém station; Ferry: From Porto Brandaõ and Trafaria on the south side of the River Tagus to Estação Fluvial de Belém or take the Linha Cascais train from Cais do Sodre to Belem Station.
Hours: 10 am - 5 pm; Closed Monday
Admission: Reduction with the Lisboa Card
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Gallery
