Museu do Hospital e das Caldas, Medical history museum in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal.
Museu do Hospital e das Caldas occupies a restored neoclassical building and displays medical instruments, artwork, and furnishings spanning multiple centuries. The rooms also feature a historic royal pool that was part of the original thermal bath complex.
The site began as a royal residence where Queen Leonor received medical treatment and later evolved into a thermal bath complex. A significant renovation in the 1860s modernized the structures under engineer Pedro José Pézerat's direction.
This facility occupies a former royal spa house and shows how thermal waters have long held a place in Portuguese healing traditions. The collections reflect the central role these baths played in the community's approach to wellness.
Plan to spend enough time exploring all the halls, as the collection spreads across several floors. The building is easily walkable and offers rest areas between exhibition rooms.
The museum preserves examples of traditional paper marbling techniques such as Turkish Ebru and Japanese Suminagashi, demonstrated regularly in workshops. These craft methods reveal a surprising link between medical history and artistic traditions from distant cultures.
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