The Fado Museum

The Museum of Fado is a cultural space which has become a reference in the cultural life of Lisbon. It shelters a permanent exhibition as well as the museum's school, where Portuguese guitar and viola fado lessons are given.

In order to know all the details, it is better to visit the Fado Museum, located in Alfama, one of the historic districts of Lisbon. From a vast collection, the fruit of hundreds of donations, you can discover the history of fado from the first quarter of the nineteenth century to the present day.

Also in Lisbon, near Madragoa, there is the house where Amália Rodrigues lived, now transformed into a museum. She is the most charismatic fado singer, who has internationalized fado by exporting it to major European theaters. With a great presence on stage and a natural taste of the show, it is to her that we owe the classic image of the black dress with the shawl.

This museum invites us to see and listen to the fado thanks to audio-visual aids, dioramas and a rich collection of objects, of which the Portuguese guitar with twelve strings from which derives the classical guitar. You will find on the spot CDs to buy.

It became an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2011, and has a very beautiful museum devoted to it. The visitor can discover this somewhat melancholy musical genre, which is one of the most beautiful expressions of the Lusitanian feeling of saudade. In the Fado Museum, we understand the political context that gave rise to this urban song intimately linked to the city of Lisbon, even if its origins are lost in the meanders of Portuguese history and the influences of here and there still remain mysterious.

Very interactive, this museum allows the listening of several period recordings, to see beautiful photos which recount the history of fado and gives prominence to this beautiful instrument that is the Portuguese guitar.

The museum has a restaurant with contemporary decoration where you can appreciate typical dishes of Portuguese gastronomy, while listening to the evening fado sung by some more or less known faders of passage. The shop of the museum is the ideal place to obtain discs of fados more or less recent.