The Casa-Museu Teixeira Lopes preserves the home and studio of António Teixeira Lopes (1866–1942), one of the most significant Portuguese sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Lopes was born in Gaia and spent most of his life there, and the house — a fine bourgeois villa with an attached sculpture garden — was donated to the municipality after his death and remains much as it was during his working life.
The museum contains the sculptor's tools and personal effects, his library, and a significant collection of his own work: plaster models, marbles, and bronzes that trace his career from academic training in Porto and Paris through to the more personal late works. The garden contains a selection of his larger pieces and is open even when the house is closed. Teixeira Lopes was a friend and correspondent of Rodin, and the collection includes some material relating to that connection.
A rewarding stop for those interested in Portuguese fine arts, and largely ignored by visitors who come to Gaia for the port wine lodges.