Cultural Heritage
The National Coach Museum is the most popular and most visited museum in Portugal. Inaugurated in 1905, in the former Royal Riding Arena of Belém, its main objective was to exhibit an original collection of gala cars and strolls from the 16th to 19th centuries, belonging to the Portuguese Royal House.
Later, the Church's cars and private pieces joined the collection, forcing an expansion. After the implantation of the republic in Portugal (and the collapse of the monarchy), the museum adopted its current denomination: National Coach Museum.
By the end of the 20th century, the creation of a new building for this museum was considered, to respond to several problems and challenges: the growing lack of space in the exhibition area, the intention to install technical support infrastructures, the need to create new assets for the public and projecting a new dynamic for the surrounding area, with new routes and public spaces.
This new building was inaugurated recently, on May 23rd, 2015, and it has a Main Pavilion, with a suspended nave and an annex. There are also areas for permanent and temporary exhibitions, the Library, the Archive and an Auditorium, as well as catering, the museum shop and a tourist information office. In the surrounding areas, there is the Museum Square, a leisure and promenade space open to the public.
The spectacular Royal Riding Arena, about 300 years old, is one of the available venues for events.
