Water Museum
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Water Museum

The Water Museum consortium manages and promotes a number of museums, buildings and monuments dedicated to Lisbon's historical water supply. The technology employed in the infrastructure date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and offer visitors a snapshot in time. Other topics covered at the museum are the earth's water cycle, new technologies, pollution and preservation. The Water Museum group includes the Águas Livres Aqueduct, the Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras reservoir, the Patriarchal reservoir and the Barbadinhos steam pumping station.

Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras Reservoir

Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras Reservoir

Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras Reservoir

The Mãe d’Água (Mother of Water) das Amoreiras reservoir was built to collect, store and distribute water brought into Lisbon by the Águas Livres Aqueduct. The reservoir dates back to the 18th Century and was designed by the Hungarian architect Carlos Mardel. Inside the building is a huge water cistern seven and a half metres deep with a capacity of 5500m3. The tank controlled the flow of water before flowing onto the city's fountains, factories, convents and palaces.

The whole cavernous space has a tranquil feel and the air is refreshingly cool. It's possible to enter the aqueduct for a short distance. Visitors can also climb to the top of the building, where there is a roof terrace offering panoramic vistas over Lisbon. The reservoir was classified as a national monument since 1910. Mãe d’Água is located next to the Amoreira gardens, another relaxing space, where the Aqueduct terminates.

Tuesday – Sunday: 10h00 - 12h30/13h30 – 17h30, Monday: CLOSED
Adult: €5.00, Concessionary: €2,50, Child under 12: FREE

Loreto Gallery

From the reservoir, the water flows onwards and is distributed through a network of channels consisting of five galleries, most are subterranean and run for almost twelve kilometres. One of these, the Loreto Gallery, can be visited along the stretch between the Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras and the garden of the São Pedro de Alcântara.
Booking: +351 218 842 429 | mda.epal@adp.pt |  Website

Getting to the Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras reservoir

706, 709, 711, 727, 738, 758
24E
Rato (Yellow line)

10 Praça das Amoreiras, 1250-020 Lisbon, Portugal.
38° 43' 16.1" N | 09° 09' 20.7" W

Impressive Monet & Brilliant Klimt: Skip the line tickets


Impressive Monet & Brilliant Klimt

Book with confidence with FREE CANCELLATION.
Buy online before you arrive to avoid queues and have the convenience of the e-ticket on your phone…

“Impressive Monet & Brilliant Klimt” is an audiovisual, immersive show that takes you through the universe of Claude Monet and Gustav Klimt. Step inside a kaleidoscope of dancing light and colour and get immersed in 360° of mesmerising art from two modern masters, with Monet & Klimt: The Immersive Experience tickets. This state-of-the-art display is the latest optical opera to be hosted in Lisbon's breathtaking Reservatório Mãe d'Água. Impressive Monet reinterprets the founding father of Impressionism, leading viewers on a journey beyond the frame into the artist's endless infatuation with light. Brilliant Klimt traces the life and legacy of the Austrian painter through his most iconic work – The Kiss. The audience will be immersed in the romantic, erotic symbolism of Klimt and will feel embraced by the artist's intimate approach to art.

• Admission to the temporary exhibition
• Only if the Premium ticket is selected, will you have access to the floating platform in the middle of the water deposit • Duration 30mins


Mad About Lisbon

Barbadinhos Steam Pumping Station

The Barbadinhos steam pumping station was in operation from 1880 to 1928 and was the essential element behind the expansion of Lisbon’s domestic water supply. The museum houses original steam pumps and Victorian steel machinery, considered fine examples of Lisbon’s industrial heritage. It is at Barbadinhos where the Water Museum’s permanent exhibition is located. The exhibits highlight the role water played during the Lisbon’s history, science, technology and sustainability. Classified, since 2010, as a Public Interest Set.

Tuesday – Sunday: 10h00 - 12h30/13h30 – 17h30, Monday: CLOSED
Adult: €5.00, Concessionary: €2,50, Child under 12: FREE
Lisbon Card Lisbon Card: -50%

Getting to the Barbadinhos Steam Pumping Station

735, 794,706, 712, 782
Santa Apolónia
Santa Apolónia (Blue line)

12 Rua do Alviela, 1170-012 Lisbon, Portugal.
38° 43' 09.9" N | 09° 07' 10.3" W
Barbadinhos Steam Pumping Station

Barbadinhos Steam Pumping Station

TOP TOURS OF THE ÁGUAS LIVRES AQUEDUCT

Lisbon Aqueduct Mysteries Private Tour

Aqueduct Mysteries Private Tour

The best way to visit a country is with local friends! People you can trust, and who are willing to, in a friendly and relaxed way, share with you their full knowledge about the places and make you feel welcome! Our guides are highly educated and competent professionals, with several years of experience. They can offer you suggestions, advice, and support in your authentic experience of Portugal, whatever your budget or personal interests may be.

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Free Water Aqueduct

Free Water Aqueduct

This insightful tour starts at the Aguas Livres Aqueduct, where we will enjoy fantastic views over the Alcântara valley. Leaving the Aqueduct we continue to Mãe d'Água (Amoreiras Reservoir), where the Aqueduct ends and where water flows through tunnels to the centre of Lisbon. Arriving at the Royal Prince's Garden we will visit the Patriarchal Reservoir, a water cistern in the garden's underground. Book with confidence; you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

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Discover & Feel Lisbon like a Local: Small-Group Tour

Discover & Feel Lisbon like a Local: Small-Group Tour

We want to make you feel like a LOCAL in LISBON and we know we will. It is our mission to take you on a journey to explore Lisbon and all of its SECRETS! We will take you to places you would never hear about and have you taste our food and culture as only a Portuguese could! Explore the Tower of Belém and Jerónimos Monastery, try out our famous Pastel de Belém, for an unforgettable breakfast! Head up the hill towards Monsanto, what we locals like to call the "Lungs of Lisbon". See the best view of Lisbon from the Monsanto Panoramic Tower! Stop at Benfica for lunch in a typically Portuguese restaurant, where you will be the only tourists around. Visit to the Águas Livres Aqueduct, which was built in the 18th-century to bring Lisbon's first clean water. Stop at the Graça viewpoint, using a scenic route and passing through the old neighbourhoods. We finish our tour in Rossio to try out our famous liqueur, Ginjinha!

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Patriarcal Reservoir

Patriarcal Reservoir

Patriarcal Reservoir


The Patriarcal Reservoir lies underground in the Jardim do Príncipe Real park. Also known as the Praça de D. Pedro V Reservoir, it was built between 1860 and 1864 to extend the water supply to the downtown area of Lisbon. It was designed by French engineer Louis-Charles Mary. The reservoir has a capacity of roughly 900,000 litres and was constructed to regulate water pressure and flow rate. The reservoir has an octagonal shape and the vaulted roof is held up by thirty-one pillars over nine metres tall. Above the roof sits a late with a waterspout for airing the water before entering the cistern below. The lake is protected by polygon-shaped iron fencing and is a central feature in the gardens.

Three subterranean galleries begin from the reservoir. The eastern route joins up with the Loreto gallery. A second sent water onto Rua da Alegria and the third heads west towards Rua de São Marçal. The Patriarcal Reservoir was decommissioned in the late 1940s. It has been part of the Water Museum since 1994 and the museum promotes and conducts free and guided tours. It's possible to walk through the tunnels to Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara albeit having to stoop over much of the way.

Tuesday – Sunday: 10h00 - 12h30/13h30 – 17h30, Monday: CLOSED
Adult: €3.00, Concessionary: €1,50, Child under 12: FREE

Getting to the Patriarcal Reservoir

758, 773
Rato (Yellow line)

Praça do Príncipe Real, 1250-184 Lisbon, Portugal.
38° 42' 59.9" N | 09° 08' 54.7" W

ÁGUAS LIVRES AQUEDUCT

The expansion of Lisbon in the early 18th century precipitated the need to improve the water supply to the city. The aqueduct was commissioned by the then ruling monarch King João V. Construction began in 1732. The first completed section came into service in 1748. For the main part, it followed the route of a former Roman aqueduct. Águas Livres means 'Free Waters', yet the cost of construction came from taxes levied on food products. The challenge of the architect Manuel da Maia was to design a structure that will carry water 19km (12 miles) from its source at Mãe de Ãgua Velha in Belas to the Mãe de Água das Amoreiras reservoir in Lisbon. Several secondary sections were later added. Expanding to around 60 separate sources from the hills that surround the city. Extending the network of channels to 58km (36 miles). It was the largest construction project of its day and is considered the most complex hydraulic engineering water supply system of the 18th century.

The aqueduct is made up of 109 stone arches, the most impressive span the Alcântara Valley (best seen from the Campolide train station), the tallest of which rises to a spectacular 65m (213ft) from the ground with a span of 29m (95ft), the tallest stone arch in the world. These arches were designed by Carlos Mardel, whose impressive construction survive the 1755 earthquake that did so much damage to other parts of Lisbon.
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Águas Livres Aqueduct (Aqueduto das Águas Livres)

Águas Livres Aqueduct (Aqueduto das Águas Livres)