Farol Museu de Santa Marta

On the edge of Cascais Bay, the Santa Marta Lighthouse Museum shows how a former place of defence and maritime signalling could gain a second life without losing its original function. The fort that houses it probably dates back to the seventeenth century; after being deactivated for military purposes, it received a lighthouse established in 1868 and enlarged in 1936 to respond better to navigation. Restored through a protocol between the municipality and the Portuguese Navy, it opened as a museum in July 2007 and became a rare case in Portugal: it still guides the coast while presenting the history, technology and heritage of Portuguese lighthouses. In the former keepers’ houses, nautical objects, optical devices and memories of the trade help one understand that the light at sea also has a human story. Between the blue bands of the tower, the rock and the Atlantic, the place preserves the practical elegance of a site always turned towards the horizon.