Fado Museum

Fado, the melancholy urban song of Lisbon, was added to UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2011, and the Fado Museum is the best place to understand where it came from. It opened on 25 September 1998 in a building with its own history: a water-pumping station built from 1868 at Largo do Chafariz de Dentro, on the lower edge of Alfama, which supplied water to the city until 1938.

The permanent exhibition traces fado from its nineteenth-century beginnings in the taverns and streets of neighbourhoods such as Alfama and Mouraria to the concert halls and recording studios of the twentieth century. You learn about early singers such as Maria Severa, the role of fado in theatre, radio and film, and the careers of performers including Amália Rodrigues, whose voice took the genre around the world. Displays include costumes, posters, sheet music, photographs and recordings you can listen to as you go.

Instruments receive particular attention, above all the Portuguese guitar, the pear-shaped, twelve-string instrument that gives fado its distinctive sound, alongside the classical guitar that accompanies it. Paintings on show include José Malhoa's O Fado and Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro's Os Fadistas of 1873. Audioguides are available in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish, with a children's version in the same four languages, and they bring the music into the visit.

The museum opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, with last admission at 17:30, and closes on Mondays and on 1 January, 1 May and 24, 25 and 31 December. A visit takes about an hour. It has wheelchair access, with two manual wheelchairs available to borrow free of charge. The museum also runs a fado school and a documentation centre and hosts concerts and events, so check its programme for performances during your stay.

It makes a good introduction before an evening at a fado house, as you will know what to listen for. Many of the city's best-known fado venues are in the surrounding streets. The museum is a short walk from the Santa Apolónia train and metro station, on the blue line, and the walk uphill from here leads into the heart of Alfama and on to the Portas do Sol viewpoint.