Machado de Castro National Museum

About

The Machado de Castro National Museum (Portuguese: Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro) is an art museum in Coimbra, Portugal, named after the renowned Portuguese sculptor Joaquim Machado de Castro. It first opened in 1913 and its latest renovation (2004–2012), which included the addition of a new building, was awarded the Piranesi/Prix de Rome Prize 2014.

The museum is housed in the former Bishop's Palace. This palace was built from the Middle Ages onwards roughly on the site where the Roman forum of Aeminium (Coimbra's Roman name) once stood. The remains of this distant past, the Cryptoporticus, can be visited on the lower floors of the museum.

Medieval entrance; entrance to the museum

The bulk of the museum's collection is made up of items from churches and religious institutions in the area surrounding Coimbra. The collections of sculpture (the most extensive of all the national museums of Portugal), painting, precious metals, ceramics and textiles are especially noteworthy.

Portrait of Agripina, 1st Century, 54 x 34 x 34 cm

Portrait of Trajan, 1st-2nd Century, 70 x 32 x 34 cm

Female Portrait, 1st Century, 32 x 32 x 22 cm

Master Pero, Medieval Knight, 14th Century, 72 x 65 x 19,5 cm

Unknown author, Black Christ, 14th Century, wood, 284,5 x 140 x 61 cm

Unknown author, Christ in His Tomb, 14th-15th Century, stone, 64 x 151 x 65 cm

Master of the Royal Tombs, Virgin of the Annunciation, 1500-1525

João de Ruão, Deposition of Christ, 1535-1540, 222 x 225 cm

João de Ruão, St. Bartholomew's Martyrdom, 16th Century

João de Ruão, St. John the Baptist, 16th Century

João de Ruão, St. Agnes, 16th Century, 110 x 46 x 25 cm

Altarpiece of the Nativity, Antwerp, 16th Century, 106,5 x 162 x 29,5 cm

Olivier de Gand, St. Geronimo and Pope St. Gregory, 16th Century

Unknown Author, Madonna of the Rose, 15th Century, 209 x 128 cm

Santa Clara triptych, 16th Century, 297 x 342 cm

Sardoal Masters, The assumption of the Virgin, 16th Century, 168 x 135 cm