Museu do Fado, Music museum in Alfama, Lisbon, Portugal
Museu do Fado is a music museum in Lisbon dedicated to the Portuguese Fado tradition, housing instruments, recordings, photographs, and documents that illustrate this genre. The building displays materials across different exhibition areas that document the evolution and range of this musical expression.
The building is the former Estação Elevatória de Águas de Alfama, a 19th-century water pumping station begun in 1868, engineered by Joaquim Pires de Sousa Gomes and Paiva Couceiro. Between 1974 and 1990 it housed the Portuguese Communist Party's work centre. Architects João and José Daniel Santa-Rita remodelled and extended it between 1995 and 1998 for the Museu do Fado, opened on 25 September 1998.
The permanent exhibition displays paintings by José Malhoa and Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro that show how visual artists captured the world of Fado singers. These works reveal the deep connection between this music tradition and Portuguese artistic expression that visitors can observe directly.
The museum is located near Santa Apolónia station and is open Tuesday through Sunday. Audioguides in several languages help visitors navigate the exhibitions and understand the collections.
The museum maintains a digital sound archive containing thousands of recordings from the early 20th century. This archive is accessible through the museum's website, allowing visitors to hear the original voices and sounds of Fado history.
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