Maritime Museum

Here at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, you're standing where one of the world's greatest maritime collections was born from a king's extraordinary passion for the sea. King Luís I wasn't just any monarch. He was the only Portuguese king who actually commanded warships, and he was at sea, captaining a frigate, when he learned he'd become king in 1861.

Two years later, in 1863, he founded this museum to preserve the nation's seafaring legacy. The collection opened to the public in 1963, exactly 100 years after its creation. Over 17,000 objects fill these halls, telling the story of Portuguese navigators who changed the world. The royal galliot Sírius from 1778 required 80 oarsmen and was built for a royal wedding. Above you, the Santa Cruz seaplane from 1922 marks the first air crossing of the South Atlantic.

Ship models reveal how simple caravels evolved into powerful ocean crossing vessels. The museum presents honest history. Alongside magnificent navigational instruments and ornate royal barges, it acknowledges Portugal's central role in the transatlantic slave trade. Three quarters of all enslaved Africans were transported on Portuguese ships, a painful truth displayed here without evasion.