Portugal dos Pequenitos

Portugal dos Pequenitos opened in 1940, conceived by Bissaya Barreto, a professor at Coimbra's medical school, and designed by Cassiano Branco: an outdoor park of Portuguese monuments and regional houses built at child scale, so children can walk into a Belém tower or a Minho farmhouse a couple of metres high. It is genuinely charming. The first phase, of houses, chapels, mills and pillories from Trás-os-Montes and the Minho, was built in 1938-1940, and the park also has a section of pavilions for the former colonies - Angola, Mozambique, Guinea, India, Macau, Timor.

History

Building began in 1938 on the initiative of Fernando Bissaya Barreto, a professor at Coimbra's medical school, to a project by Cassiano Branco; the first phase, of typical houses, chapels, mills and pillories of Trás-os-Montes and the Minho, was built in 1938-1940. Since 1959 the park has belonged to the Bissaya Barreto Foundation, and in 2007 it had its record year, with 331,000 visitors (Wikipedia, Portugal dos Pequenitos).

What to look for

• The miniature monuments - Portuguese buildings at child scale, enterable.
• The regional houses - vernacular architecture from each province in miniature.
• The overseas pavilions - a section devoted to the former colonies.
• The first phase - northern houses, chapels and mills built in 1938-1940.

When to go

April to October; it is entirely outdoors. Two to three hours. Busy with school groups on weekdays in term.

Things to know

Everything is outdoors with little shade. Aimed at young children. The ticket is not cheap.

Nearby

Santa Clara-a-Velha is beside it; central Coimbra is across the bridge.

Key facts