Museum of Decorative Arts, Museum in Alfama, Lisbon, Portugal
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs is a museum in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon, housed in a 17th-century palace building at Largo das Portas do Sol. Its rooms display furniture, silver tableware, Chinese porcelain, and Flemish tapestries alongside the original painted ceilings and tile-covered walls of the former palace.
The museum was founded in 1953 by Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva, a Portuguese banker who spent his life collecting furniture, silverware, and objects linked to Portugal's long-distance trade. He later gave his collection to the Portuguese state so that the public could access it, and the foundation he created still runs the institution today.
The museum carries the name of the Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva Foundation, which founded and still runs it today. Visitors moving through the rooms can watch craftspeople at work using old techniques such as gilding and wood carving, which gives the visit a hands-on quality rarely found in a museum setting.
The museum sits in Alfama, close to the Miradouro das Portas do Sol viewpoint, and can be reached on foot from the city center or by tram. Visiting on a weekday gives you more room to move through the rooms and to watch the workshops without crowds.
The foundation also runs a school called FRESSforma, where master craftspeople pass on old techniques to new students. This means that in the same building where historic objects are on display, new pieces are still being made today using the same methods that produced them centuries ago.
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