4.5.1 Museu Nacional do Azulejo (Tile Museum)

Rua Madre de Deus 4

Location HERE.

Closed Mondays.

An unexpected oasis of calm and wonder, away from Tourist Central and in what at first seems an unpromising area, by a busy road junction and with the noise of trains on the embankment above occasionally intruding, this museum is housed in the Mosteiro da Madre de Deus, a former monastery, with much of the collection in rooms around the cloisters.


Only in Portugal could you have a Tile Museum: tiles are not merely floor coverings, but used as decoration, to insulate and damp-proof buildings, and to tell stories, to provide an historical record of how life was in centuries past.

You enter through a gate from the road outside, a courtyard opening up and guiding you through to reception. There may be a queue; most of the time, the wait is not long.


Maybe take the lift to the second floor, start at the top and work down. That top floor has a tiled fresco depicting Lisbon before the earthquake of 1755. Displays on lower floors take you through the use of glazed ceramic tiles, how it began and developed, and how it continues today.

In a corner of the ground floor (some steps involved) is the chapel, spectacularly golden, and a fitting coda to the visit.

There is a café, should you want to sit down and have a snack break.

Get there by 759 bus from Restauradores, Rossio, Praça do Comércio and Sul e Sueste. If you do just one museum in Lisbon, make it this one.

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