Lisbon has a million things going for it, not least of which is the outstanding weather and quality of outdoor life. Which means that the city’s big museums sometimes get overlooked. However, the city is home to outstanding public and private collections and spaces devoted to wonderfully specific slices of Portuguese culture. And as an added bonus, on hot summer days, museums are some of the few air-conditioned spaces in town. Here is our list of the Best Museums in Lisbon.
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
Museum of Contemporary Art MAC/CCB
For years, the cultural center in one of Lisbon’s most historic (and touristic) districts has been home to the Berardo Collection Museum, but it underwent a renovation and rebranding and opened as the Museum of Contemporary Art MAC/CCB in late October 2023. The spacious, high-ceilinged galleries are still home to a collection that stands the origins of modernism to the late-20th-century avant-gardism. It also has a mission of combining architecture, visual art, and performing with a slate of programming that includes accessible fare like concerts and dance performances.
Praça do Império | Tuesday to Sunday – 10:00 to 19:00
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
Often tourists stay in the historic neighborhoods beside the river, but this museum in a newer part of the city is beloved by Lisboetas. That’s partly because of its landscaped gardens, a quiet oasis in the heart of the city, but also because of the permanent collection of more than 6,000 pieces from nearly all eras and areas. It also has a top-quality rotation of international exhibitions, ranging from a group show of contemporary feminist art to the works of René Lalique to a celebration of ukiyo-e Japanese prints. The Gulbenkian (as it’s called) was the work of Armenian-British businessman Calouste Gulbenkian, who settled in Lisbon during World War II and made a number of cultural contributions to the city.
Avenida de Berna 45A | Wednesday to Monday – 10:00 to 18:00
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
National Museum of Antique Art
The permanent collection at the well-maintained Museu Nacional Arte Antinga spans the Middle Ages and the Renaissance with a particular emphasis on Portuguese history and treasures but also with pieces from elsewhere in Europe and beyond. There’s a fair amount of religious art, but also the household goods and decorative items of wealthy and aristocratic families. Temporary exhibitions follow a similar theme. The leafy garden behind the building is rarely crowded and is a dreamy place to enjoy a cafeteria-style lunch, a coffee, or simply a leisurely afternoon.
Rua das Janelas Verdes | Tuesday to Sunday – 10:00 to 18:00
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
National Coach Museum
The Museu Nacional dos Coches (that’s “coach” as in horse-drawn carriage) is one of the most-visited museums in Portugal. The enormous space in a former riding school displays the ornate carriages that were used to transport Portuguese royalty between the 17th and early 20th centuries. The space is big, but it’s organized in a chronological fashion, making it a lesson in the ridiculous luxuries the nobility enjoyed—some coaches were carried on people’s shoulders—as well as the evolution of wheeled transportation.
Avenida da Índia 136 | Tuesday to Sunday – 10:00 to 18:00
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
MAAT
Housed on one of the most instagrammed buildings on the Lisbon waterfront—a swooping, gleaming-white structure by renowned Welsh architect Amanda Levite—the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology spotlights contemporary art from the likes of Stefan Sagmeister (a few years ago) and Joana Vasconcelos (on display through March 2024), probably Portugal’s best-known contemporary artist. The museum also occupies the former power plant next door, which supplied electricity to Lisbon for much of the 20th and now houses the permanent collection amid the brick, iron, and industrial architecture of the building.
Avenida Brasília | Wednesday to Monday – 10:00 to 19:00
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
National Museum of Contemporary Art
Known as MNAC for short (Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânia) in Portuguese), this well-designed museum in Chiado was inaugurated in 1911, right at the beginning of the Portuguese Republic (as opposed to the monarchy). Ever since then, its mission has been to display national and foreign works are of art made after 1850. Along with the permanent collection, it spotlights today’s artists in group and solo shows. For would-be visitors who are not currently in Portugal, it also disseminates its art through the Google Art Project platform and has a dynamic and comprehensive catalog publishing policy.
Rua Serpa Pinto, 4 | Tuesday to Sunday – 10:00 to 18:00
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
Museum of the Orient
While its riverside location is a bit difficult to reach, it’s worth the effort to see the permanent and temporary exhibitions at Museu do Oriente that document the historical Portuguese presence in Asia. As it turns out, this was no small presence: There are artifacts from India, Sri Lanka, China, Macao, Japan, Korea, and East Timor. The primary collection consists of more than 2,000 artistic and documentary objects, such as furniture, ivory, textiles, sacred art, porcelain, painting, and sculpture. The works span a time period that stretches from 3,000 BC to the mid-20th century.
Doca de Alcantara Norte, Av. Brasília | Tuesday to Sunday – 10:00 to 18:00
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
Royal Treasure Museum
Set in the magnificent Ajuda National Palace, Museu Tesouro Real is home to collection that spans nine centuries. The collection includes gold and diamonds from Brazil—a major source of the wealth that Portugal reaped during its period of global exploration—coins and medals from the Portuguese crown, jewelry and medals from orders of knighthood, diplomatic gifts, royal insignia, and table settings. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the past of what was once one of the wealthiest and most important cities in Europe.
Calçada da Ajuda | Every day – 10:00 to 18:00
BEST MUSEUMS IN LISBON
National Tile Museum
One of the things that make Lisbon so fetching is its abundance of colorful tiles inside and outside of its buildings. The Museu Nacional do Azulejo is a love letter to those tiles. It occupies a 16th-century convent and displays tiles created between the 16th century—when the style was first imported to southern Portugal during a time of Moorish rule—to the present, including some advertising campaigns and some cheeky scenes from the walls of historic homes. The highlights are a large-scale tile artwork that presents the city of Lisbon, and the gilded, Baroque Ingreja da Madre de Deus (church of the Mother of God), which is filled with tiles and other works of art.
Rua da Madre de Deus 4 | Tuesday to Sunday – 10:00 to 18:00
