Carmo Archaeological Museum

The Carmo Archaeological Museum (in portuguese, Museu Arqueológico do Carmo) counts with more than a century and half of existence, having opened in the year of 1864. It had in Joaquim Possidónio Narciso da Silva its founder, a renowned archaeologist and architect in Portugal, that was the creator and first president of the Associação Portuguesa de Arqueólogos¹.

The museum is housed in the ruins of the Convento do Carmo², whose gothic construction dated from 1389, was ordered by D. Nuno Álvares Pereira. Once, it belonged to the Ordem das Carmelitas³. And yes, you read well, housed in the ruins! Destroyed by the terrible earthquake of 1755, the convent constitutes a real testimony of the cataclysm that befell Lisboa on that first day of November. It is believed that this fact gave origin to an ancient expression very popular in Portugal that is cai o Carmo e a Trindade (in English: falls the Carmo and the Trindade), both names of churches which collapsed under the yoke of the fearful seism, meaning the imminence of an upcoming catastrophic event.

While visiting the museum, one will find two mummies dated prior from the time of Cristovão Colombo⁴ and several ceramic pieces, courteous offer from the Conde de São Januário⁵ in the 19^th century. There is also a funerary ark with nine muses dated from the Roman times, the tombs the king D. Fernando I of Portugal and the queen Maria Ana of Austria, tile panels and the pilasters of the griffins with origin in the Mozarabic period. There's much more to enjoy, in a permanent exhibition that counts with more than a thousand artifacts to the delight of the public.

Translation references

1. Portuguese Association of Archaeologists
2. Carmo Convent
3. Carmelitas Religious Order
4. Cristopher Columbus
5. Earl of Saint Januário