The Coach Museum in Lisbon

The national coach museum in Lisbon is more than a hundred years old, and the building is worth of taking photos, a magnificent painted ceiling and paintings on the second floor make this museum not only a place with the old royal vehicles, but also a place for art.

The museum was inaugurated on the 23^rd May of 1905, and the original collection included 29 vehicles, which were owned by the Royal House.

It is located in one of the most touristic areas of Lisbon, Belém, where you cannot miss the "Pastéis de Belém" and you can also visit beautiful gardens and the "Mosteiro dos Jerónimos".

Near the museum there is a construction site where the a new coach museum is being built(almost finished by now). It is a modern building and it will have more space for the coaches. It is not as magnificent as the old one but it will have more space for the visitors to enjoy the view.

Until the coaches are moved, you can still enjoy and see the centenary coach museum. Here are some of the photos I took there. 

View of the main building from the second floor. The entrance is just under where I was

The tour through the museum starts with the oldest coaches, that are located near the entrance, and as you walk you will see more modern coaches with the new painting techniques applied and more detailed sculptures done in the coach wood.

These are some of the details that you can see in the doors

Paintings of angels in the doors

Paintings of the crown and the flags of Portugal and Spain that were under the same crown

Two angels lifting the crown

Two angels holding the crown and the coat of arms of Portugal

One of the examples where painting was not applied, the difference in colour is due the  museum lights.

As you can see there is a lack of space behind the coach

Some of the coaches have glass protecting the interior

This coach was used during the papal visit to Portugal

More modern coaches did not have big wheels as before and had more detailed in the carving of the coach

After the main exhibition you will enter in another wing of the building where the coach in which the penultimate king of Portugal died, after he was shot. The coach still has some of the holes the bullets made in the Regicide.

Two of the bullet holes in the coach

Image of the rear of the coach, where the king was standing, and the door with the two holes.

An ad from more than hundred years ago.

In the ad you can see written some of the marketing of that time:

• "Carruagens com rodas de borracha" - Coaches with wheels of rubber
• "Carruagens para Casamentos e Baptisados" - Coaches to Weddings and Baptized
• "O que ha de mais luxo e bom gosto" - What exists with more luxury and good taste

Hope you like it, depending on your visit to Lisbon you may want to visit the museum. I recommend it if you are going to stay in Lisbon more than three days. It is good, but you will also find other beautiful places to go.