Marta Ortigão Sampaio House Museum

Imagine your apartment turns into an open museum. This is more or less the case. Number 291, at Rua de Nossa Senhora de Fátima, would be a perfectly normal house but whoever gets in can see Aurélia de Sousa’s biggest collection (there’s a whole room just for her) and other great Portuguese naturalist painters, such as José Malhoa, Marques de Oliveira and Silva Porto wrapped up in a 19th century bourgeois ambiance (it has, therefore, nothing to do with its modern exterior). Marta Ortigão Sampaio – whose dad was Vasco Ortigão Sampaio, a patron who discovered painters like Sousa Pinto and whose mother was Aurélia’s and Sofia de Sousa’s sister – ordered this house to be built in the 50’s as a place where he could live and as a place that later could be transformed into a museum. The first goal wasn’t accomplished but the second was. Aside from painting, it also has period jewellery from the 17th century all the way to the 20th (any girly girl will enjoy this), Portuguese, French, and English art deco furnishing, faience, porcelain from Companhia das Índias and hats from the 1940’s. Another interesting room is the bedroom that looks like a dollhouse: Marta Ortigão’s bedroom ambiance, in Foz beach, is recreated here. There’s a library and a beautiful garden (the only thing missing is a service bar) that people can visit for free, even if they don’t want to set foot in the museum. There are guided tours for those who wish.