The Navy Museum of Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

 is dedicated to all aspects of the History of navigation

History of navigation

In the pre-modern history of human migration and discovery of new lands by navigating the oceans, a few peoples have excelled as sea-faring explorers...

 in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. The museum is administered by the Portuguese Navy

Portuguese Navy

The Portuguese Navy is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the military defence of Portugal....

 and is located in the touristic district of Belém. It occupies a part of the neo-Manueline

Manueline

The Manueline, or Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century, incorporating maritime elements and representations of the discoveries brought from the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro Álvares Cabral...

 Western wing of the Jerónimos Monastery

Jerónimos Monastery

The Hieronymites Monastery is located near the shore of the parish of Belém, in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal...

 (together with the National Museum of Archaeology) as well as a modern annex built to the North of the monastery.

The history of the museum is deeply related to King Luís I

Luís I of Portugal

|-...

 (1838-1889), who was a lover of oceanographic

Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

 studies and an accomplished navigator himself. He created in 1863 a collection of items related to the preservation of maritime history of Portugal, a collection that was enlarged in the following decades, culminating in the inauguration of the Maritime Museum in 1963 in its present location.

The exhibits include historical paintings, archaeological items and many scale models of ships used in Portugal since the 15th century. It is one of the most visited Portuguese museums.

See also

• Jerónimos Monastery
  Jerónimos Monastery
  The Hieronymites Monastery is located near the shore of the parish of Belém, in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal...
  
  
• Museu Nacional de Arqueologia