Cadeia do Aljube

Cadeia do Aljube is a former prison in Lisbon that now serves as a museum. It stands in the Santa Maria Maior district, in the Alfama area, right next to Lisbon Cathedral. Since 2015 the building has housed the Museu do Aljube – Resistência e Liberdade, the Museum of Resistance and Freedom.

What was the Aljube prison?

Between 1928 and 1965, Aljube served as a political prison of the Estado Novo regime. Opponents of the dictatorship that ruled Portugal from 1926 to 1974 were held here. Well-known inmates included Francisco Miguel Duarte, Telo Mascarenhas and Mário Soares. The building is therefore one of the city's most significant places of memory for twentieth-century political repression.

What can you see in the museum?

The museum is openly committed to its cause: it aims to remember and document the struggle against the dictatorship and to honour those who resisted. It gives special attention to the people killed under the military dictatorship and the Estado Novo between 1926 and 1974.

The permanent exhibition runs across several floors:

• Level -1 – archaeological finds,
• Ground floor (0) – a memorial to political prisoners and the history of the building,
• Floor 1 – the character of the Portuguese dictatorial regime and its means of repression,
• Floor 2 – the resistance of the opposition, imprisonment, torture and isolation cells,
• Floor 3 – the anti-colonial struggle, independence movements, the fall of the dictatorship and the revolution of 25 April 1974.

Who is it for?

It is a strong stop for anyone interested in modern Portuguese history, human rights, and how a country looks back on a period of authoritarian rule. It combines easily with a walk through Alfama and a visit to the nearby cathedral. Allow generous time, because the exhibition is extensive and leads from the oldest layers of the site to the day of the revolution.

Frequently asked questions

Is Cadeia do Aljube still a prison? No. It is a former prison, and a museum has operated there since 2015.

Where is it? In Lisbon's Santa Maria Maior district, in the Alfama area near the cathedral, at roughly 38.710 N, 9.133 W.

Who was imprisoned here? The political prison operated from 1928 to 1965. Inmates included Francisco Miguel Duarte, Telo Mascarenhas and Mário Soares.

What period does the exhibition cover? The military dictatorship and the Estado Novo (1926–1974), the resistance to them, the anti-colonial struggle and the overthrow of the regime on 25 April 1974.

Is the museum only about the prison? No. Besides the building's history, it presents the wider picture of the regime, its repression and popular resistance, plus archaeological finds on the lowest level.