Caramulo Museum
The Caramulo Museum (Museu do Caramulo) in Caramulo , Central Portugal , is a museum of vintage cars and an art collection with works by Pablo Picasso , Salvador Dalí and other great masters. It is located on the southern slope in the middle of the “Serra do Caramulo” mountains with a view of a wide panorama.
The doctor Jerónimo de Lacerda completely redesigned Caramulo in 1921 as a health resort primarily for tuberculosis sufferers. As the disease was increasingly eradicated, the two sons Abel ( economist ) and João ( doctor ) de Lacerda planned the museum in the 1950s, so that in addition to the hotels and sanatoriums, the remote but idyllic place with tourism could have a permanent existence to back up. The opening of the museum in 1959 was made by President Américo Tomás .
art
The art-loving Abel Lacerda, born in 1921, built a building based on the most modern museological knowledge of his time to exhibit an unusual collection of around 500 pieces: paintings by Flemish masters ( Frei Carlos , Quentin Massys , Adriaen Isenbrant , Jacob Jordaens ), works by Dalí , Picasso, Marc Chagall , Fernand Léger or Jean Lurçat , but also Portuguese old ( Grão Vasco and others) and modern artists. You can see ceramics ( Han , Tang , Ming , but also Delft and a carafe by José Álvares from 1552), carpets (such as the monumental tapestries made for Manuel I in Tournai , Flanders ) and furniture. The sculptures are also noteworthy, especially by Portuguese artists ( José de Guimarães , Salvador Barata Feyo , Canto da Maya , Leopoldo de Almeida or António Duarte ), but also by José Cañas and José Clarà . A three thousand year old representation of a bull's head from Egypt is the oldest piece in the museum.
Abel Lacerda succeeded in acquiring the decaying Franciscan monastery of Fraga, not far from Caramulo in Sátão , which he dismantled in parts, incorporated into his museum planning and then rebuilt piece by piece on site. The museum has a cloister with an inner courtyard.
Abel Lacerda died in 1957.
Automobiles
His brother João Lacerda (born 1923) built an adjacent exhibition building for 100 vehicles, with the stipulation that all vehicles on display must always be easy to move, despite their museum situation, for demonstration or maintenance purposes. So are the cars he lovingly restored, from his first Ford T to the Bugatti , Rolls-Royce , Mercedes , Ferrari , Porsche , Peugeot , Lamborghini , Jaguar , Unic , Panhard , Oldsmobile , Cadillac , Darracq , Renault , Pegaso , Benz , Fiat etc., all always in running order. Accordingly, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has appointed him to its historical committee and in rallies such as the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run , Louis Vuitton China Run, Morocco Rally , Paris-Rouen , Bordeaux-Paris for vehicles up to 1900 , the Mille Miglia , the Monte Carlo Rally and the exhibition in the Parc de Bagatelle (Paris), Joao Lacerda collects trophies and recognition.
After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, some wealthy collectors feared the anti-capitalist furor after the long years of dictatorship in the country with such unequal incomes, and they took their loans to safety. But over time the country and with it the country's elite calmed down. The exhibition regained its fullness and was once again counted among the best automobile museums in Europe.
Many of the cars on display have a connection to the history of Portugal. The Peugeot from 1899 is the oldest fully functional automobile in Portugal. Also on display are a Bugatti 35B, with which Lehrfeld set the record of 205 km / h in 1931, a Cadillac that was in the service of the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar , an armored Mercedes-Benz, a gift from Adolf Hitler disdained by Salazar , a Pegaso Sport that General Franco gave to President Craveiro Lopes , a Chrysler Imperial of the PIDE , which played a role in an escape from the political prison of Caxias , a Rolls-Royce, Queen Isabell II , President Eisenhower and Pope John Paul II . drove on their visits to Portugal, and a Fiat that Dr. João de Lacerda was given by the President of the Fiat Group.
today
After the early death of Abel Lacerda, the foundation "Fundação Abel Lacerda", today "Fundação Abel e João Lacerda" was founded. She is the owner and sponsor of the two museums, which are open to the public all year round and have so far had well over a million visitors.
Since 2004 there has been a toy exhibition in the Museu do Caramulo , accompanied by a barter, buy and sell market for miniatures and old toys once a year. The Caramulo Automobile Museum also organizes the “Salão Motorclássico” once a year at the FIL International Fair on the Expo 98 site in Lisbon. Every first weekend in September, probably not by chance in competition with the Festa do Avante, which is taking place at the same time ! (one of the largest festivals in Europe, organized by the Partido Comunista Português ), the Caramulo Motor Festival takes place.
See also
Web links
- Site of the Caramulo Classic Car Museum in Portuguese, English and Spanish
Coordinates: 40 ° 34 ′ 11.7 " N , 8 ° 10 ′ 18.5" W.