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Navy Museum Among the many museums of Lisbon, we are visiting the navy Museum now. It is lodged in the huge
former dormitories of the Hyeronimites Monastery and on the place where Vasco da Gama started his two years long
and dangerous trip to India. It's one of the most interesting in the world in its particularity. It has several big rooms,
some with full-scale boats and others with miniatures. Here we see a great number of boats from those used thousands
of years ago until the most modern ones and all in good shape and high quality. All kinds of boats are represented,
from the merchant ships to war vessels. Maps and paintings illustrate the effort made by the navigators. A special
mention should be made to the part dedicated to the Portuguese vessels, which discovered the world, helped by the
knowledge of the school of navigation founded by prince Henry. Prince Henry the navigator was also the person in
command of the Order of Christ, a conversion of the knight Templars, which also displayed the red cross of Christ on
a white background. This was the flag of the evangelizing mission of the Portuguese. We have here replicas of the
boats used by the Portuguese like caravels and galleons. Famous navigators like Vasco da Gama, Magellan and
Columbus, used them. The caravel, which is largely attributed to the Portuguese navigations, is a light and fast vessel,
which could sail close into the wind, because of the straight position of the sail and was often used in the discoveries.
But then, to carry the merchandise, heavier boats were needed, like the galleon, which is also a war vessel. Portugal had
one of the strongest, if not the most powerful navy in the world. That was crucial to defend the vast empire the
Portuguese had just conquered.
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Coach Museum The Museum we are visiting now, housed in the former royal riding school, adjoining the palace of the president, has the best coach
collection in the world. There are two rooms with coaches, from the most ancient one in the world, of the 16-century, till one of the most recent, from the
19-century. There are berlins, sedan chairs and other coaches from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, England and Austria. It's here since 1902 and it was
made by queen Amelia, wife of king Charles of Portugal. Needless to say that we can see here some very good models made in Portugal, a country where
some of the best were made in the past.
National Ancient Art Museum Among other ancient art museums, some even private, we take a look at this one, for the reason that here we have some
important Portuguese paintings. The most important painting is Saint Vincent panel, painted in the 15 century, depicting the court in that period. Several
items of eastern art can be seen, and most traditional European schools are represented here. There are 4 floors with sculptures, jewelry, furniture, and
painting, special attention given to religious themes. Some of the items are temporarily exhibitions and this is always a nice surprise with different pieces
of famous artists.
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