Madeira Online

The legacy of Mario Barbeito Vasconceles. Founder of the Vinhos Barbeito (Madeira) Wine Company. The library of books he left behind dating back to even as far as the 16th century: disposing to the Christopher Columbus enthusiast or to the Madeiran historian a rich heritage of information.

The museum is the personal collection of a well known solicitor, Dr. Frederico de Freitas, and is composed of an expansive collection of unique Portuguese, Iberian, Persian, and Moorish style tiles, amongst a horde of many other precious items.

A look at some of the most important churches in Funchal. Including the Cathedral (Sé).

One of the latest and most attractive museums to open in Madeira in recent times. The museum offers a nostalgic retrospective to the century old service offered by the Casa da Luz or "House of Electricity" - the electric utility company - in its 100 year sojourn to today, and its historical impact on the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo.

The City of Sugar Museum (Núcleo Museológico A Cidade do Açucar) serves as a retrospective on the history of Funchal guided along the central theme of sugar - the industry that helped shape the early vestiges of Funchal, and Madeira.

The museum near the centre of Funchal exhibiting some of the finest embroidery made during the latter part of the 19th and through most of the 20th centuries. A very good and interesting pedagogical area is also open to embroidery enthusiasts who want learn a few tips and methods on stitching techniques.

Housed in the former residence of Henry Veitch, an important British consul of the first half of the nineteenth century, the recently established Madeira Wine Institute took it upon themselves to provide a rich retrospective on the history and methods of Madeira wine and its production. A live cooperage is also featured.

The municipal museum provides a zoological, geological, and biological archive service for species and minerals of the Archipelago of Madeira. The museum is housed in what used to be the former residence of the Counts of Carvalhal and has a small aquarium of live marine fauna and flora. A library and news archive is also resident in the Museum.

One of the youngest museums of Madeira - this valuable resource holds a genetically diverse and biologically resourceful collection of multiple different species of insects, sea creatures and many other endemic fauna and flora specimens of the Madeiran Archipelago. The museum is housed in the government controlled botanical gardens of Funchal.

A fine and important museum in the very centre of Funchal. The museum houses several halls of significant fine art, sculpture and sacrilegious jewellery. Pride of place is the Flemish collection - a collection of sixteenth century wood or board painted sacred art works from Bruges and Antwerp. Imported during the wealth of sugar cane production on the island. The equally important gold-plated silver processional cross - a gift of King Manuel I of Portugal - is also on display.

This museum is the oldest of its kind of any museum or studio in the Iberian Peninsula. It was built by a professional photographer to a collection of up to 600 000 prints and approximately 300 00 negatives and photographic glass plates. This veritable collection of valuable historic material and social studies is a unique and resourceful monument to the history of Madeira.

A fine museum holding the private collections of two prestigious collectors of Madeiran furniture, porcelain, silverware, fine art, and many other items of historical and antique interest. Excellent examples of Manueline style design and architecture (windows of old lordly homes) abound in the landscaped gardens. The museum is housed in the former residence of the discoverer and first governor of the Capitania Funchal, Madeira: Gonçalves Zarco.

A lesser known fact but no less distinguishing for Porto Santo is that Christopher Columbus lived, married and had his son Diogo born on Porto Santo. The house which houses the museum is believed to be the former residence of the discoverer.

The second of two wine museums on Madeira. Housed inside the old São Francisco monastery and part of one of the oldest medieval streets of Funchal. The expulsion of the religious orders in 1834 led to the destruction of the site and transformation into a wine cellar.

The hunting and poaching of whales was a practice seen off the coastline of Madeira for many years. In 1981 the hunting of whales was banned in Madeira and an important species, the sperm whale, was given another chance to recover from possible extinction.