Housed in an elegant 19th-century mansion, this museum–arts centre is another repository of knick-knacks donated to the city by an avid collector, this time João Carlos Abreu – journalist, writer, politician, actor, artist, former minister of tourism and, evidently, keen traveller and souvenir acquirer. However, these are no ordinary mementos – room after room is packed with wonderful objects, many works of art.
Universo de Memórias João Carlos Abreu
Funchal
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
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Now a museum, the Quinta das Cruzes is a quintessential old Madeiran manor house complete with gardens and a private chapel. Originally the home of João…
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0.71 MILES
Once a run-down area between the Mercado dos Lavradores and the Fortaleza de Santiago, in recent years the 'Old Zone' of merchant's houses and 19th…
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0.58 MILES
Built in 1940 by architect Edmundo Tavares, Funchal's art deco market is one of its top attractions as well as still serving as the island's best fresh…
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0.37 MILES
Funchal's 16th-century cathedral once oversaw the world's largest diocese – all of Portugal’s overseas territories from Madeira to Brazil to Angola – and…
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2.27 MILES
Anyone who says Madeira has no beaches should hop on bus 1 or 43 to the boulders and browny-black sand of this wild strand in Funchal's western suburbs…
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1.31 MILES
One of the island's top tourist attractions, Madeira's famous botanical gardens are a must for most visitors. Extending over 80,000 sq metres, the gardens…
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Run by the fifth generation of the D'Oliveira family, this is Funchal's most easily accessible wine experience. Anyone can enter the strongly aromatic…
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5.67 MILES
Dramatically set at the bottom of a mammoth cauldron of rock, the village of Curral das Freiras is one of the most popular daytrips from Funchal. Some…
Nearby Funchal attractions
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Now a museum, the Quinta das Cruzes is a quintessential old Madeiran manor house complete with gardens and a private chapel. Originally the home of João…
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The highlight of this 15th-century convent, once the island's richest, is one of the island's most attractive churches, with floor to ceiling azulejos…
3. Casa-Museu Frederico de Freitas
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Built by the counts of Calçada in the 17th century, this tasteful mansion was purchased by a local lawyer, Frederico de Freitas, in the 1940s. An avid…
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This old-fashioned museum, housed (in classic Funchal fashion) in a surplus palace, has an ageing aquarium on the ground floor, and stuffed local fauna,…
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Easy to spot, but taxing to reach, it's worth the slog up to this rock-top fortress northwest of the city centre for the stupendous views, possibly the…
0.19 MILES
Created from an old sugar works – hence the huge chimney in the middle and old bits of machinery scattered around the place – this undervisited city…
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Run by the fifth generation of the D'Oliveira family, this is Funchal's most easily accessible wine experience. Anyone can enter the strongly aromatic…
8. Museu Photographia Vicentes
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Set up by Vicente Gomes da Silva in 1865, this exquisitely preserved photographic studio, above a shady cobbled courtyard, was in use until 1982. The…