Portugal has a vast collection of museums. Here, we focus on museums that have prehistoric collections or which are focused on prehistory.
You can use the map at the right to search for specific museums (highlighted map markers indicate museums that are described on this website), or browse through the entries below. More posts are added as sites get visited.
(NOTE: the national museum of archaeology has been closed for renovations and won’t reopen until 2025. When it does, we’ll be sure to visit and include it here.)
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Núcleo Museológico de Arqueologia de Afife
English name: Afife Archaeology Museum Tucked away beside the Afife Casino (not a gambling hall, but the town’s social centre), is a small but fascinating archaeological museum. There are artefacts from the Paleolithic up through the Roman period, and information about the rich ancient history of the town and the area. The museum is laid
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Casa dos Nichos
This ancient building holds even more ancient contents inside. It’s the archaeological museum of Viana do Castelo, with information about the prehistory of the area from the Stone Age to the Roman era. Viana do Castelo’s archaeological museum (Núcleo de Arqueologia) has a small but impressive exhibit telling the story of the area’s ancient past,
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Museum of the Southwest Script
Portuguese: Museu da Escrita Sudoeste de Almodôvar (MESA) The characters tease you: they look familiar, and they obviously convey a message. What is it? It’s impossible to say. Someday we may decipher all the symbols, but for now they remain enigmatic, leaving us to wonder at the people who lived here before the Romans. This