Museums Lisbon

Tags

art., International, museum, Portugal, puppets, World

There are many wonderful sites to visit in Lisbon. We visited the Castle of Sao Jorge, the Mosteiro Dos Jeronimos, the Museo de la marioneta (Puppet Museum), the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum & Gardens, the archeological ruins of the Carmo, the museum of Royal Carriages (Dos Coches), the church of Sao Roque, the Tower of Belem and the monument to the Navigators.

Just to give you un aperçu as we say in French of what we saw, but that is not all.

One museum which might be dismissed as ”for children” is the beautiful and well curated puppet museum (Museo de la marioneta). It is housed in an old convent and on display are puppets from all continents of the world, from many cultures. Puppets after all are used in telling a story and as humans we need to tell others our stories. This museum brings this message of commonality amongst people, from Africa to Asia to Europe.

There are also many displays of Portuguese artist families who devoted their lives to developing this art form, many are very famous in Portugal like Maria Emilia Perestrelo. The last display is about puppets today in the age of technology, how camera are used to give them life. There is a special inter-active exhibit which you can use to make your own movie using puppets and sets.

It is a very interesting museum because it appeals to young and old and reminded me of my own childhood playing with puppets.

African Puppets

Some German puppets found on a German U-Boat, used to entertain the crew.

Puppets from Brazil

French Puppets

Portuguese Puppet theatre

here is the display exhibit with a computer who helps you create a moving scene and tell a story. Very laborious affair but fascinating for children and adults.

In the next post I will write about the other museums we visited.