Coimbra

Theme Park • Coimbra, Coimbra

In Coimbra, beside Rossio de Santa Clara, Portugal dos Pequenitos turns the scale of architecture into a pedagogical language. Conceived by Bissaya Barreto as part of his work in defence of children, it was created as a playful and educational extension of the Casa da Criança Rainha Santa Isabel, which still operates there today. The park-garden opened on 8 June 1940 and was designed by the architect Cassiano Branco. Its first phase brought together Portuguese regional houses; the following ones added areas dedicated to the country’s main monuments and to the ethnographic and monumental representation of the Portuguese-speaking African countries, Brazil, Macau, India and Timor. Among houses, pavilions, gardens and small volumes, the ensemble presents styles and typologies of Portuguese architecture, linked to regional characteristics and traditional crafts. It is a place designed for children, but also a visual synthesis of Portuguese material culture.