Category: Culture and Entertainment > Museum
District: Lisboa > Mafra > Vale da Guarda
The Tojeira Museum is located within the Tapada Nacional de Mafra, in the locality of Vale da Guarda, municipality of Mafra. The Tapada is a vast walled area, created in the 18th century, which preserves the region's fauna and flora. The museum is integrated into this natural environment, surrounded by wooded slopes and the tranquility characteristic of the protected space.
The location in the heart of the Tapada provides direct contact with the landscape and wildlife, giving the museum a unique setting, distinct from the usual urban context.
The Tojeira Museum emerged as part of the heritage associated with the ancient royal hunting ground, used for centuries by the Portuguese royal family. The space reflects the connection between the Tapada and the practice of hunting, so present in the site's history. Its collection brings together objects and testimonies that document this past, becoming an important piece for understanding the role the Tapada played in the life of the nobility.
Over time, the museum has preserved collections related to hunting and the natural environment of the Tapada, serving as a complement to the experience of exploring the surrounding space.
Inside the museum, one can find a collection of firearms used in royal hunts, as well as a notable display of deer and fallow deer antlers. These specimens allow for a close observation of the difference between the branched antlers of deer and the flattened shape of fallow deer antlers, explaining natural phenomena such as the shedding and annual growth of these bone structures.
The space also exhibits stuffed animal specimens, many of them confiscated from illegal hunts, constituting a memory of the species that inhabit or inhabited the Tapada. This collection offers an educational portrait of the faunal diversity and the region's historical relationship with hunting.
Visiting the Tojeira Museum is also an opportunity to appreciate the unique environment of the Tapada de Mafra. Surrounded by dense vegetation and extensive historic walls that delineate the protected area, the space conveys a sense of seclusion and direct connection with nature. The museum, integrated into this scenario, gains a special dimension by being situated in a territory where wild boar, fallow deer, and deer still roam freely today.
This natural setting means that the visitor's experience goes beyond the museum exhibition, allowing for an understanding of the Tapada not only as a historical space but also as a living and continuously preserved ecosystem.
Coordinates DD: 38.95604014761869,-9.282524295083654
Coordinates DMS: 38°57'21.7"N 09°16'57.1"W
Weather Vale da Guarda
On-duty Pharmacy Vale da Guarda
