Folk Art Museum

Opened in 1948, the Museu de Arte Popular (Folk Art Museum) was installed in the former pavilion of the “Folk life Section”, designed by the architects António Reis and João Simões built for the “Exhibition of the Portuguese World” (1940). The museum was conceived according to the program developed in 1946 by António Ferro, the director of the Bureau for National Propaganda (SPN), was organized according to the administratitive division of the national territory in the Portuguese Constitution of 1933, and its projected name was “People’s Museum”.

Many of the museum’s items were collected for exhibitions made from the 1930’s onwards and, after the opening of the museum in 1948, were completed by acquisitions and donations. Its collections consist of ceramics, jewellery, musical instruments, basketry, textiles, costumes and embroidery, boat and oxcart models and agricultural implements.

In 2000 its permanent exhibition was closed due to profound refurbishment works on the building. In 2006, following the announcement of the extinction of the museum its collections were transferred to the Museu Nacional de Etnologia (National Museum of Ethnology). The bond between the two museums is a project which has been considered for several times over the last four decades, but that only came through fully in 2016, with the activity of the Folk Art Museum closely linked to the mission and the program of the National Museum of Ethnology.

Your discount

50% discount on entry tickets for ISIC cardholders when not in study visit
50% discount on entry tickets for IYTC cardholders
Free entry for ISIC and ITIC cardholders when in study visit