Museu do Hospital e das Caldas

About the museum

The museum tells the story of the Hospital de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo, founded in 1485 by Queen D. Leonor, the oldest thermal hospital still in operation in the world, and of the town that grew up around it, Caldas da Rainha. It belongs to the Centro Hospitalar do Oeste and is housed in the former Caza Real, which for a long time served as a hospital. In 1861 the engineer Pedro José Pezarat remodelled the building, which then housed the institution's directors and the royal family. Major works in 1992 turned it into a museum.

The collection, gathered over five centuries, includes painting, woodcarving, sculpture, goldsmith's work, church vestments, azulejos, graphic documents, ceramics, furniture and medical and scientific instruments. Notable are the set of 16th-century vestments, the devotional sculpture of the 17th and 18th centuries, liturgical objects offered by D. João V, and the extensive series of portraits of the kings of Portugal, painted between the early 17th and the late 19th century.

The collection is completed by a historical archive and a library, holding documents from Queen D. Leonor's charter of 1512, the hospital's first regulations, to posters from the 1930s. The museum is therefore above all a museum of the history of an institution and of the place that formed around it. Guided tours may include the Hospital Termal, the Chapel of São Sebastião and the Parque D. Carlos I.

Highlights

• 16th-century vestments and 17th- and 18th-century devotional sculpture
• Series of portraits of the kings of Portugal
• Medical and scientific instruments
• Historical archive with Queen D. Leonor's charter of 1512
• Visits to the Hospital Termal (Piscina da Rainha) and the Chapel of São Sebastião

Permanent exhibition

• Coleção permanente do Museu do Hospital e das Caldas – Painting, church vestments, sculpture, goldsmith's work, azulejos, ceramics, furniture and medical instruments that tell five centuries of the Hospital Termal and of Caldas da Rainha.

Founded

1992

Operated by

Centro Hospitalar do Oeste

Admission & discounts

Price list from 2022 published by the museum. The Church of Nossa Senhora do Pópulo and the Chapel of São Sebastião are free of charge for individual visitors.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

The museum organises workshops, family studios and holiday programmes.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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