Museu de Portimão

Museu de Portimão is one of the best regional museums in the Algarve, housed in a converted sardine-canning factory on the Arade waterfront. The building itself is a significant piece of industrial heritage from the early twentieth century, and the conversion has preserved the factory floor and much of its original equipment.

The permanent collection covers the history of Portimão from prehistoric times through the Roman occupation to the modern era, with the fishing industry at its heart. There are good displays on the archaeology of the Arade River — boats, cargo, and the accumulated debris of centuries of river commerce — and an evocative reconstruction of the canning factory at work. Entry is free on the last Sunday of each month. The waterfront terrace café is a pleasant place for a coffee after visiting.

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A story
The museum occupies a former sardine-canning factory — one of the canneries that gave Portimão its industrial identity from the late nineteenth century until the 1970s collapse of the sardine stocks. At peak production, the factory employed hundreds of women who filleted and packed fish by hand at extraordinary speed. The museum preserves much of the original factory machinery, and the smell of sardines, they say, still returns in certain weather.

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