Museu do Caramulo

Abel and João de Lacerda built the sanatoria that made Caramulo a tuberculosis treatment centre from the 1920s, and they used the money and the connections to found a museum in the village in 1959, which is why an unlikely collection sits in a mountain village of a few hundred people. The art side holds Portuguese primitives, Flemish tapestries, and twentieth-century work including pieces given directly by Picasso and Dalí, who were approached by Abel de Lacerda and responded - a Picasso drawing inscribed to the museum among them. The other half is around seventy vehicles: Bugatti, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Mercedes, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, motorcycles and bicycles, several with racing history, kept in running condition and taken out for events. The two collections have nothing to do with each other, which is part of the appeal, and the mountain setting is the third element.

Highlights

• The art - Portuguese primitives, Flemish tapestries, and works given by Picasso and Dalí.
• The cars - around seventy vehicles kept running, from Bugatti to Ferrari.
• The founders - a collection built on the fortune of the tuberculosis sanatoria.
• The mismatch - two unrelated collections in one mountain-village museum.

When to go

April to October for the mountain roads. Two hours. Some vehicles leave for rallies and events, so specific cars may be absent.

Good to know

Cars are periodically away at events and not all are on display. The village is small with limited food. The mountain road up is winding. Fire damaged parts of the surrounding serra in recent years.

Nearby

The Caramulinho summit and viewpoints are above; Tondela and the Dão country are east.

Key facts