Puppet Museum
Puppet and mask collection spanning five centuries and five continents, housed in a baroque convent.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Puppet Museum in Lisbon centers on António José da Silva, the city's most celebrated puppet playwright of the 1730s, known to the Inquisition only as O Judeu. It follows his childhood after his mother's arrest for secretly practicing Judaism, his own arrest and torture in 1726, and the packed houses at the Teatro do Bairro Alto that watched his puppets act out Medea and Don Quixote while the Inquisition took notes in the audience. Portuguese street figures share the room with masks and puppets brought from Southeast Asia and Africa.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Church of Saint Dominic
Baroque church scarred by fire and history, its blackened walls deliberately left as witness.
Praça Dom Pedro IV
Cobbled plaza with a royal column, once the stage for Inquisition autos-da-fé and popular revolts.
Bordalo Pinheiro Museum
Museum dedicated to Portugal's celebrated satirist, housing ceramics, caricatures, and prints.
Costume Museum
Palace museum spanning three centuries of Portuguese dress, from court gowns to modern fashion.
Museu Nacional do Azulejo
Sixteenth-century convent housing Portugal's national collection of painted azulejo tile art.
Casa Fernando Pessoa
Final apartment and literary museum of the poet who invented over seventy distinct identities.