The Puppet Museum, Portugal

The Puppet Museum (Museu da Marioneta) is the first and only Portuguese museum solely dedicated to the interpretation and dissemination of the history of puppets and puppet theatres. The museum features the history of this utmost fascinating art form found throughout the world, with a focus on Portuguese puppets. The museum's mission is to implement a whole range of activities related to the collection, maintenance, preservation, research, and exhibition of puppet theatres, puppets and its history. Our goal is to spread knowledge and learning through various programmes that are fun and educational for all who visit us. Museu da Marioneta’s estate depicts the various theatrical forms deriving from ancient traditions or from modern artistic pursuits, exploring new forms, new materials and new techniques. Apart from one of the most important and complete collections of Portuguese traditional puppets, the museum has an outstanding and wide collection of African and Asian puppets and masks belonging to the collector Francisco Capelo. There are some exceptional quality oriental masks and puppets from Java, Bali, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, India, Viet Nam, Japan and China. The core of the collection features artefacts from significant European and Portuguese puppet families. Permanent Collections: The permanent collection includes over 3,900 objects from more than 30 countries (1,293 objects from Asia): • Puppets (1,651) • Masks (241) • Accessories and Costume/clothing (390) • Photos and documents (1713)