Description of the attraction
The War Museum is located in front of the Santa Apolonia train station in Lisbon, on the site of a 16th century shipyard. The Artillery Museum was founded in 1851 by General José Batista da Silva, and since 1926 it has already become known as the Military Museum. In the same building, before it was turned into a museum, weapons were produced until the beginning of the twentieth century.
The museum itself is small, but among the exhibits there is a large number of absolutely unique and very rare weapons of the medieval period. Today the museum has a large collection of artillery pieces, probably one of the largest in the world. Also among the exhibits of the museum are cannons, pistols and sabers, including artillery from the 14th century, and even a carriage that was used to transport the Arc de Triomphe to Commerce Square.
The museum is divided into several rooms and is located on two floors. There is also a basement in the museum, a typical 15th century building that was used as an arsenal. The basement survived the earthquake in 1755 and today it is also used by the museum and houses a large collection of artillery pieces. Many of these exhibits are made in Portugal, others are made in Britain, France and even the Malaysian Sultanate.
Some of the rooms are decorated in the Baroque style, there are many panels depicting scenes of battles and paintings on a military theme. The first two halls to the right of the main staircase are dedicated to the era of the wars with Napoleon. In the Vasco da Gama room, the frescoes reveal a lot about the era of geographical discoveries. For example, there are murals that depict a sea voyage to India. And the entire first floor is filled with exhibits from the era of the First World War.
