The Costume Museum of Viana do Castelo, operating in the historical center since 1997, seeks to divulge and preserve Viana's costume, Viana do Castelo's identity.
The so called vianense costume was worn by women in the villages around Viana do Castelo between the 19th and 20th century, standing out for its details and different colors. Its unique shape led to this costume and the associated traditions being highlighted every year in the 'Senhora da Agonia' festivities. There are also some more masculine garments presented in this museum.
The building where you can learn all this history is located in the historic center, on a street parallel to the main avenue. It stands out from the surrounding buildings for being an imposing building, with two large side patterns representing fishing and agriculture.
Admission to the museum currently has a purely symbolic cost of 2€/adult. Getting to know the museum with the calmness it deserves, the visit takes between 1h and 1h30, with the exhibition divided into several floors, each with different highlights. The schedule changes depending on the time of year, so we recommend consulting the opening hours.
The first floor, where the permanent exhibition 'Memories in Time' is located, is one of the most interesting for the fact that it distinguishes the several types of Viana's costumes, the different colors, their meanings and the regional differences. Ending this part we are sure that the Viana costume culture is much more complex than it seems, presenting great differences between regions so close to each other.
From here on the museum opens up into different rooms highlighting different uses of the costume, important personalities in the dynamization, protection and dissemination of the costume, and, right in the center of the museum, a large loom, extolling the handmade production of this type of garment.
Another room worth mentioning is the so-called gold room, on the 1st floor. As the name indicates, this consists of a vault-like room where several gold pieces connected to the culture of the city are on display.
Associated to this museum there are also five museum centers, located in the surrounding rural parishes and dedicated to distinct themes: bread, water mills, windmills, agro-maritime activities, and sargassum gathering.
For those visiting the region, the Viana do Castelo Costume Museum is an obligatory stop to get to know this very typical element of the region.
more to see
em Viana do Castelo
English 
Português