Museums and Palaces

Open to the public since 1986, the House-Museum offers an approach to the intimate space of Fernando Bissaya Barreto (1886-1974), professor of Medicine at the University of Coimbra, surgeon and philanthropist, a reference name in the history of assistance and social medicine in Portugal. For almost 50 years it was his private residence.

The building and its unique architecture, the garden and its ornamental aesthetics, the furniture and the art collections reveal the importance that the values of Beauty, Order, Perfection and Aesthetics represented in Bissaya Barreto's life, which were essential to him.

Only in this domestic space is it possible to immerse oneself in the life of this patron, between the material and the imagination, and imagine his social time. Designed by the architect Fiel Viterbo, the residence was begun in 1923 and completed in 1925. Built on two floors in an eclectic style, with strong traces of Joanine Baroque, it is crowned by a wide octagonal turret with elegant windows. The house and garden as a whole reflect the work of renowned craftsmen and artists of the region.

It is the headquarters of the Portuguese Association of Museum-Houses - A.P.C.M., of which it is a founding member, and is also a founding partner of Coimbra - Network of Museums. The Bissaya Barreto Foundation also manages other cultural spaces in Coimbra, such as the Bissaya Barreto Arts House and the Portugal dos Pequenitos (Little Portugal), a space of Portuguese children's imagination, with miniature houses to be visited by children.