As you climb the stairs to the entrance, it is hard to imagine that this was the first building in Portugal designed specifically to be a museum.

In the heart of Parque D. Carlos I, the museum holds a collection of the artist’s work, including the first painting he gave to the museum himself: a portrait of Queen Leonor, the founder of the city.

Opened in 1940 and dedicated to the great naturalist master, the museum also displays one of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro’s great works, The Passion of Christ, a set of 60 life-size pieces.