National Museum Machado de Castro

The Machado de Castro Museum is one of Coimbra’s hidden gems — the collection is impressive, but the real highlight is the Roman cryptoporticus beneath it. Walking through those ancient tunnels is surreal, like stepping back nearly 2,000 years. The museum itself is well-organized, peaceful, and full of beautiful sculptures and artifacts. Absolutely worth the visit — especially if you enjoy history that you can literally walk through.

I didn’t know much about this museum before going, but it ended up being one of my favorite spots in the city. The mix of historical artifacts, sculptures, and that huge Roman structure underground makes it feel unique compared to most museums.

The National Museum Machado de Castro has two main attractions. The first is the fascinating ruins of a Roman city located beneath the building, and the second is a beautiful collection of sacred art. The museum building itself is also architecturally impressive. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in Coimbra.

The National Museum Machado de Castro is a treasure of Coimbra. Exploring its vast collection of art and sculptures is inspiring, but the real surprise is the ancient Roman cryptoporticus beneath; walking there feels like stepping into history. A perfect mix of culture and archaeology.

I’d seen a programme about this place and was curious to explore the underground Roman ruins myself. What I didn’t realise was just how vast the museum is—spread across three floors, filled with stunning altars, sculptures, and exquisite golden sacraments. Definitely a must-visit!

Wonderful quick tour of the Cryptoporticus at the National Museum Machado de Castro. Awed at the level of care given this ancient underground piece of history. At 3€ per adult, if you like history, well worth the price!

I did not expect this museum so big and interesting but it was. The guards in the galleries guide you through a sort of fixed route through the museum that starts below in the catacombs with the remains of a Roman forum. Following the route there are mostly religious sculptures and paintings set in chronological order so you can see how much this art has improved over time. To the end there are galleries with precious metal objects, ceramics, furniture and a small oriental section. All in all you need ample time to see it all and 1,5 seems the minimum.

Excellent museum and crytoporticus. I was very fortunate in the museum where I met a guide that explained a lot to me about various pieces that I would have otherwise missed and he answered all my questions. His name was Luis and he was amazing in his knowledge and patience. Thank you again, Luis. You made the experience great!

This was so much more than we expected. The Roman tunnels below the museum were very special. The Time and effort to build. One area reveals street paving going back centuries. With number tags. You can see the quality change. The museum is not just sculpture. It's also carpets , Flemish Art, Gold relics. This is a good experience.

Excellent collection of Portuguese art with a focus on sculpture but also painting, previous metals, earthenware etc. Collecting is mainly from the 11th century to the 17th century. Quite a bit is imported (mainly from Flanders), and is supposedly 'nativised' - I'm not sure what's wrong with embracing it as Flemish in its own right but anyway it's still excellent art. There're also some Roman remains and a few sculptures underneath, so you get even more bang for your buck. Admission is only 6€ and the collection is pretty big. There's some oriental objects too.

It was just ok. Not bad, not exhilarating, just ok. The Roman ruins were fun, but it's kinda like churches: once you've been to a few dozen of them, just the fact that they are Roman ruins no longer wows you as much. (Sad, right?) When you're sorta spoiled by seeing better ones though, that's just how it is. (The ones below the Metropol Parasol come to mind as better, and the ones in Valencia, Spain as well). All the religious paraphernalia just makes me sad for how much money is spent on religion when the money could have been spent on making people's lives better, but that's just my opinion across the board and not just for here. They have some neat pieces in their collection, but I wish they did a better job of painting the picture in their descriptions--how was this used, where was this piece in its original context, why is it significant?

The owner at my hotel said this was the second best museum in Portugal. There are a lot of museums in this country, and even in Coimbra, but this does have a lot of outstanding features. One starts with a tour of the underground Roman ruins, quite extensive - one could get lost easily here if one lacked a sense of direction. But then when you pass yet another side-passageway, you see a guard looking back at you from a distant corridor. I don't know if they are afraid someone will steal a big stone block, or if they are just being unobtrusively helpful. I prefer to think its the latter - they allowed me to explore these extensive "catacombs" and the upstairs displays too, but were always ready to point me the right way when there was ambiguity as to which way to go. Out of the Roman basement, one finds Catholic paintings, statues, vestments and altar items from various eras going way back to Portugal's first days. There was only a little representing the 20th Century but the collection of earlier artwork is certainly extensive and broad in scope. The entry fee was 6 euros, or 3 euros for those over 65. Not a bad deal.... and it kept me for a while out of the terrible rain that infested Coimbra during my stay there...