Cultural places in Portugal

Museum • Lisboa, Lisboa

Casa Fernando Pessoa, in Lisbon, occupies the writer’s last home, where he lived with his family from 1920 until a few days before his death on 30 November 1935. The building was acquired by Lisbon City Council in the late 1980s, when it was in poor condition, and opened to the public on 30 November 1993. Rebuilt while preserving original elements, the House keeps personal objects, some furniture and a large part of the books that belonged to Pessoa. The long-term exhibition is organised around memory, literary creation, reading and home. Across three floors, it presents the heteronyms, documents, works of art and the Private Library, classified as a National Treasure. More than preserving a reconstructed bedroom, the House shows how reading nourished one of the most plural literary works of the 20th century.

Museum • Lisboa, Lisboa

The Museu do Lactário, in Lisbon, preserves the memory of the first milk dispensary created in Portugal. Established in 2019 by the Fundação Aboim Sande Lemos, it tells the story of a social work begun in 1901 with the Associação Protectora da Primeira Infância. The Lactário began operating in 1903, supporting disadvantaged children from Alfama and their families. The help was daily and free: controlled-quality cow’s milk, paediatric care, hygienic, social and neonatal support. The museum brings together objects, documents, photographs, painting, sculpture, tilework and scientific and technical pieces linked to that activity. Among the most expressive items are four incubators for premature babies, acquired in 1903, Alexandre Lion models. By reconstructing services such as Lacticology, the Lactário, the Medical Service and the Social Service, the museum reveals a discreet history of care, science and child protection.