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Lisbon Mueseums and Ancient Section
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Index:
MUSEUMS
1-Museums (Introduction) 2-Museums (Navy Museum) 3-Museums (Coach Museum) 4-Museums (National Ancient
Art Museum)
OLD LISBON: Alfama
MUSEUMS
1-Museums (Introduction) Lisbon has a huge variety of museums, one for every taste. We have some of the best in the
world. The Portuguese like to make collections, they are very committed to their history.
2-Museums (Navy Museum) Among the many museums of Lisbon, we are visiting the navy Museum now. It is lodged in
the huge former dormitories of the Hyeronimites Monastery and on the place where Vasco da Gama started his two
years long and dangerous trip to India. It's one of the most interesting in the world in its particularity. It has several big
rooms, some with full-scale boats and others with miniatures. Here we see a great number of boats from those used
thousands of years ago until the most modern ones and all in good shape and high quality. All kinds of boats are
represented, from the merchant ships to war vessels. Maps and paintings illustrate the effort made by the navigators.
A special mention should be made to the part dedicated to the Portuguese vessels, which discovered the world, helped
by the knowledge of the school of navigation founded by prince Henry. Prince Henry the navigator was also the person
in command of the Order of Christ, a conversion of the knight Templars, which also displayed the red cross of Christ
on a white background. This was the flag of the evangelizing mission of the Portuguese. We have here replicas of the
boats used by the Portuguese like caravels and galleons. Famous navigators like Vasco da Gama, Magellan and
Columbus, used them. The caravel, which is largely attributed to the Portuguese navigations, is a light and fast vessel,
which could sail close into the wind, because of the straight position of the sail and was often used in the discoveries.
But then, to carry the merchandise, heavier boats were needed, like the galleon, which is also a war vessel. Portugal
had one of the strongest, if not the most powerful navy in the world. That was crucial to defend the vast empire the
Portuguese had just conquered. Pirates and other enemies, were always after the merchandise brought on
Portuguese boats like: spices, gold, silver, ivory, precious stones, silk, ceramics, exotic wood, tea, coffee, sugar,
tobacco, drugs, medical plants, wild animals, and so forth, were always on sight of hostility.
3-Museums (Coach Museum) The Museum we are visiting now, housed in the former royal riding school, adjoining
the palace of the president, has the best coach collection in the world. There are two rooms with coaches, from the
most ancient one in the world, of the 16-century, till one of the most recent, from the 19-century. There are berlins,
sedan chairs and other coaches from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, England and Austria. It's here since 1902 and it
was made by queen Amelia, wife of king Charles of Portugal. Needless to say that we can see here some very good
models made in Portugal, a country where some of the best were made in the past.
4-Museums (National Ancient Art Museum) Among other ancient art museums, some even private, we take a look at
this one, for the reason that here we have some important Portuguese paintings. The most important painting is Saint
Vincent panel, painted in the 15 century, depicting the court in that period. Several items of eastern art can be seen,
and most traditional European schools are represented here. There are 4 floors with sculptures, jewelry, furniture, and
painting, special attention given to religious themes. Some of the items are temporarily exhibitions and this is always a
nice surprise with different pieces of famous artists.
OLD LISBON
Alfama
Let me show you the most ancient section of Lisbon, Alfama quarter, the place where Lisbon started thousands of
years ago, with Romans, Visigoths, Arabs and obviously our beloved Portuguese. It?s on the south slope of Saint
George's hill, facing the river, and the slide-way means lots of stone stairways to go up and down. Crooked and narrow
streets with roofs nearly touching each other, grant inhabitants familiarity with the neighbor.
It defied time and earthquakes, and it's here that we can step back in time, breath in the past and see the curious
structure of the medieval town, of how Lisbon used to look like before. It developed disobeying to any built-up plan.
Just the additions of several generations, since the time of Romans and Arabs. It's like a maze. This provides tourists
the possibility to get lost and stay here a little longer, in the homeland of sailors, navigators and merchants, since a lot
of them lived here in the 13 and 14 centuries. Some streets are so narrow, that only one person can get through at a
time. They don't need to leave their homes to talk to the neighbors. This kind of structure keeps houses cool in the
summer and traffic jams away all year round. Alfama comes from an Arab name. It means source of water. In fact, this
reminds us towns in many Arab countries. And the many fountains in this quarter still provide inhabitants with a pure
water to drink. We can feel the picturesque atmosphere with the laundry hanging at the windows, cages with birds
singing, sardines grilling, children playing In June, the quarter gets decorated with paper flowers, for the celebrations
of saint Anthony, Saint John and saint Peter, with the processions you saw before. It's when we feel the liveliness and
cheerfulness of the Portuguese, watching dancing late in the evening until sunrise amid the strong smell of grilled
sardines, that go well with the nice Portuguese red wine. And listen to them singing and yelling in the streets.
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