Walking through Lisbon’s winding streets, you sometimes stumble on places that feel like doorways to other worlds. The Museu da Marioneta, housed in the graceful Convento das Bernardas, is one of those discoveries. The building itself still carries the weight of centuries in its stone walls, with its whitewashed façade punctuated by neat windows framed in red. The entrance is playful and inviting—large murals of puppets and marionettes from different cultures spread across the slope, each one colorful, strange, and fascinating, almost as if they’re beckoning you inside to meet their companions.
This museum is dedicated entirely to the art of puppetry, gathering marionettes and masks from all over the world. Thai shadow figures, European wooden characters, African ritual masks, and Portuguese puppetry traditions all live here side by side. It feels like stepping into a world where stories are told not just through words but through delicate gestures, carved faces, and strings pulled with care. The posters outside already set the stage—you know you’re walking into a gallery of living theatre, where fantasy and folklore hang from threads.
What makes it even more special is the contrast between the playful, almost childlike magic of puppetry and the quiet dignity of the convent walls. Lisbon has a way of blending old and new like that, turning history into something alive, never static. If you find yourself wandering through Santos or Madragoa, it’s worth pausing here—not just for the museum, but for the reminder that storytelling has endless shapes, sometimes made of wood, cloth, and string.
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