We thought so too and, after gossiping in every nook and cranny of the capital, we discovered the city’s five strange and unknown museums!
Take a look at this alternative Lisbon!
Table Of Contents
Dermatology Museum
Macabre to some, fascinating to others, the Dermatology Museum exhibits more than 250 wax masks that reveal the effects of certain skin diseases, such as syphilis or cutaneous tuberculosis.
The realism of the collection, kept in the Salão Nobre of the Capuchos Hospital, is due to the fact that the molds were taken directly from the faces (and not only) of the patients.
All the figures were commissioned from the Fine Arts Society in the 1930s and 1940s and even the hair, fur and eyelashes are natural.
The space is mainly visited by medical students, but is open to the general public on Wednesdays between 2pm and 5pm.
Address: Hospital de S. António dos Capuchos, Alameda de Santo António dos Capuchos
Faraday Museum
Faraday… what? If the name doesn’t ring a bell, you should know that this museum dedicated to electronics and electrotechnics inherited its surname from the Englishman Michael Faraday, a 19th century scientist, physicist and chemist, considered one of the greatest experimentalists in these fields.
Located at the Instituto Superior Técnico (floor 3 of the old Electricity Pavilion), it has around 600 antique objects, such as a 19th century telephone or the first power transistor manufactured in Portugal.
But it also has a “Room of the Future”, which displays innovative equipment developed at IST.
Visits are free, but require advance booking.
Address: Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, Antigo Pavilhão de Eletricidade, Instituto Superior Técnico
Miguel Bombarda Museum
The country’s first psychiatric hospital was closed down several years ago, but it is still possible to visit the old facilities and some of the work done by patients who were interned there.
Of particular note is the Security Pavilion, where patients from prisons were kept.
This is one of the few roofless panopticons in the world, i.e. a circular, empty building in the center, with a tower that allows you to “see without being seen”.
There is also the D. Maria II Bathhouse, built for therapeutic baths (used in psychiatry), the Main Building, located in the former convent of Rilhafole (18th century) and the office where Miguel Bombarda was assassinated on the eve of the Republican Revolution.
As well as storing thousands of photographs, clinical material and hospital furniture, it is also the country’s largest raw art gallery, exhibiting the works created in the former psychiatric hospital.
Guided tours (free) on Wednesdays from 11.30am to 1pm and on Saturdays from 2pm to 6pm.
Address: Rua Dr. Almeida Amaral, 1 (between Campo de Santana and Rua Gomes Freire)
House of Plaster
What happened to the molds of Lisbon’s statues? A dozen of them are kept in the Casa dos Gessos, belonging to one of the five strange museums in the city, the Lisbon Military Museum, but located in Campo de Santa Clara, next to the National Pantheon.
One of the most imposing is the famous six-meter statue of King José, the bronze version of which you can see in Praça do Comércio.
But this space also holds the casts of other emblematic statues, such as that of Dr. Sousa Martins, in Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, or that of Afonso de Albuquerque, in Praça do Império, in Belém.
The Casa dos Gessos is open for visits every Wednesday from 10am to 1pm and on Thursdays from 2pm to 5pm. Admission is free.
Address: Campo de Santa Clara
Judicial Police Museum (Loures)
If you’re a fan of crime and suspense films and series, you’ll enjoy visiting this museum located in the Judicial Police School, in Quinta do Bom Sucesso, in Loures.
Inside there are around six thousand objects (many more are in storage), including old police equipment and material seized over the years.
These include the knife used in the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1982, numerous forged works of art and even an underground cell (supposedly) used for kidnappings by the FP25.
The museum is open to all for visits, but requires prior booking.
Address: Quinta do Bom Sucesso, R. Francisco José Purificação Chaves 9A, Loures
