Casa Museu Bissaya-Barreto

Casa Museu Bissaya-Barreto is a house museum in Coimbra, central Portugal, set in the former residence of the surgeon and philanthropist Fernando Bissaya Barreto. It stands close to the city's botanical garden and gives visitors a look into the private world of a man who left a lasting mark on Portuguese social medicine.

Who was Bissaya Barreto?

Fernando Bissaya Barreto (1886–1974) was a surgeon and professor of medicine at the University of Coimbra. He was a key figure in the development of social medicine and welfare assistance in Portugal. In 1958 he founded the Bissaya Barreto Foundation, created to improve education, healthcare and social support for disadvantaged communities in central Portugal. A visit here introduces both a collector and the founder of an institution that still carries on his work.

What does the building look like?

The house was completed in 1925 to a design by the architect Fiel Viterbo. The two-storey mansion is eclectic in style, with strong Joanine Baroque touches, a reference to the Portuguese Baroque of the era of King John V. An octagonal turret with refined windows crowns the whole. It is a good example of how early twentieth-century Portuguese houses blended older models with modern domestic architecture.

What will you see inside?

The rooms hold the objects the owner gathered over the years:

• a broad collection of Portuguese azulejos, the painted ceramic tiles, dating from the 16th to the 19th century;
• porcelain from the East India Company and from Saxony;
• silverware and Italian marble;
• paintings of the Mother and Child;
• fabrics, plus works by painters such as José Malhoa, Sousa Pinto and António Vitorino;
• a library with books from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Azulejos are one of the best-known symbols of Portugal, so if you want to follow their development across several centuries, this house shows it in a single place.

Why visit?

The museum has been open to the public since 1986. It is not a conventional gallery with rows of display cases. It is a home in which furniture, paintings and everyday objects form a coherent picture of the life of a well-off doctor devoted to social causes. A visit pairs well with a walk through Coimbra, especially if you are exploring the area around the botanical garden. The site lies at 40.206157 N, 8.419495 W.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Casa Museu Bissaya-Barreto? In Coimbra, Portugal, near the botanical garden.

When was the building constructed? In 1925, designed by the architect Fiel Viterbo.

Since when has the museum been open to visitors? Since 1986.

What is the highlight of the collection? Many visitors single out the azulejos from the 16th to 19th centuries, but the house also holds porcelain, silver, paintings and an old library.

Who owned the house? Fernando Bissaya Barreto, a surgeon, professor of medicine in Coimbra and philanthropist who founded the foundation in 1958.