Museum

Discover the history of a fascinating city

The visitable exhibition of Aurea Museum offers you the opportunity to observe the daily life of all the Lisbon inhabitants and cultures over the centuries. The exhibition revolves around a tour through houses, walls and public spaces that are preserved, thus keeping the rich cultural heritage of Lisbon.

A living proof materializes in a collection of objects and structures dating from the 2nd century AD and that go through the historical evolution of Lisbon. The different people that contributed to the construction of the current city left an indelible imprint on the city that today the Aurea Museum returns to us.

The hotel offers a free mini-tour every day through the archaeological remains.

A courageous spirit

The walls of the city were very important in the history of Lisbon, they were essential as a defence system against the threat of foreign peoples.
The first wall was built in the first century and, over the years, it surrounded the entire city. After various renovations, at the end of the 15th century it was adapted to urban life, becoming as part of many of the palaces of the riverside area. The Aurea Museum was one of these palaces and today you can see in the exhibition a part of this valuable wall.

The noble past

If you wander through the exhibition, you will go back to the 16th century, when Aurea Museum was the home of Portuguese nobles. Distributed in two floors, in the upper floor you can access the room where guests are received, the rooms and the garden area. You can also visit on the ground floor the kitchens, the food storage area, the cellar, the servants' rooms and the warehouses for the merchandise of the commerce of East and North of Europe.

The Portuguese signature

One sign of identity of the Portuguese decoration is the tiles. Since King Don Manuel ordered them for the palace of Sintra at the end of the 15th century, tiles became a key decorative element in palaces, chapels, noble houses and churches. In addition, they are more than a simple ornament; they show from representations of battles to everyday scenes and even satirical settings.

The thousand facets of Lisbon

The Portuguese capital was born more than 3,000 years ago, which makes it one of the oldest cities in Europe. The city we know today began its journey in the Neolithic and the Iron Age, later it became the Roman Olisipo, the Islamic al-Ušbūna, the medieval Lixbona and, as time goes by, after the Modern Age and the Industrial Revolution, Lisbon was arising. An open and cosmopolitan Lisbon, full of culture and with an incalculable historical legacy.