Located in the Ajuda National Palace, the Royal Treasure Museum is a huge vault inside a building and, inside, you’ll find the greatest wealth of the former Portuguese Royal House, with more than 1,000 pieces of great historical, artistic and cultural value.
Organized into 11 themed sections, the Royal Treasure Museum is one of the must-see places in Lisbon, and it’s already one of our favourites.
If you want to know what impressed us most during our visit, read on.
The vault
It seems impossible and unbelievable, not least because it was an extreme engineering feat to be able to assemble one of the largest vaults in the world inside an already historic building.
But it’s true, in the most modern and restored part of the Ajuda National Palace, an impressive – and beautiful – golden vault has been installed, 40 meters long and 10 meters high, distributed vertically over three floors and divided into 11 areas of various themes, which we’ll come back to in a moment.
And it even has those giant, heavy doors – each one weighs five tons – made of solid steel, to further reinforce that in the Royal Treasure Museum you’ll find priceless pieces of jewelry… as well as many other surprises that we’ll tell you about in a moment.
Our experience
Due to the high value of what we were about to see – as well as any visitor – entering this museum requires more security measures than when you go to an airport, where at the entrance we had to pass through a metal detector gantry, and our belongings (suitcases, backpacks, bags, etc.) went through an x-ray system.
Once everything was okay and we were inside, we entered through the characteristic vault door and accessed the exhibition, which has 11 themes and some interactive components.
Since we were filming – follow us to see the video soon – we didn’t follow the normal path of the exhibition, but we can tell you that it starts and ends in this direction:
- Gold and Diamonds from Brazil
- Crown Coins and Medals
- Jewelry from the Palace Collection
- Honorary Orders
- Royal Insignia and Ritual Objects of the Monarchy
- Crown Silverware
- Private Collections
- Diplomatic gifts
- Royal Chapel
- Germain Bassoon
- Treasure Journeys (official ceremonies in which the objects on display were used inside and outside Portugal)
What we most enjoyed seeing was the impressive collection of jewels and goldsmithery from the Portuguese Crown, including crowns, sceptres and decorations.
We also learned more about the always controversial subject of gold from Brazil, where you’ll find raw specimens of precious metals, especially truly gigantic gold nuggets.
We were able to follow the monetary history of the Portuguese monarchy, through a vast array of coins and medals; and witness the relations of our diplomats across borders, where you can admire the insignia of the Military Orders of Christ, Avis and Santiago.
You’ll also be able to admire a complete royal tableware (18th century tableware), unique in the world, commissioned from the goldsmith François-Thomas Germain after the 1755 earthquake. Here you’ll find one of the interactive points on the museum trail, with images created to give the feeling of the Royal Family at the table.
It’s well worth spending some time in each of these areas, admiring their importance in the country’s history, where they came from and who gave them to us, as well as paying close attention to all the small and almost “hidden” details of some of these jewels.
If we can give you a suggestion, use the audio guide. Just because some of the areas are a bit dark and reading the small information plaques can be a bit tiring on the eyes.
With this app, which will give you a brief explanation (approx. 2 minutes) of each of the 11 areas of the Royal Treasure Museum, you can learn more about, for example, the family tree of the Royal Family, and it will also guide you around the entire space, from the vault to the cafeteria, the lounge area and the store, where you can buy a souvenir of this royal “treasure”.
There’s no denying that the Royal Treasure Museum is “really” incredible and full of riches, with pieces that would be worth millions of euros today, but which are priceless due to their artistic and symbolic value.
Address: Calçada da Ajuda (Tram 18; Buses 729, 742 and 760)
Opening hours: from May 1 to September 30, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; from October 1 to April 30, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed on December 25 and January 1
Tickets: adults for €9.50; from 7 to 24 years old and +65 for €6.65; family (2 adults and 2 young people) for €30.40, on the website