MUSEU DO MARMORE RAQUEL DE CASTRO

This is the city's marble museum. It opened in September 2012, after several years of work. What a boon because the old museum was quite small and confusing! And that is now no longer the case. We enjoy the visit and the discovery of this place that honors a stone very present on the Portuguese territory.

Several thematic and informative rooms are dedicated to this majestic stone, with gray, creamy beige or pink colors, which is found in Vila Viçosa but also in the whole region, especially in Estremoz. You will be shown marble objects from archaeological excavations, and you will be told about the everyday use of marble, as well as its extraction process and how it evolved. You will discover that the large blocks of marble in the quarries are cut with diamond wire! diamond! The visit can be guided in French by Maria Clara Pernas who works on site. Don't hesitate to ask her, it's included in the entrance fee!

To see real marble quarries when you leave the museum, drive straight on towards Borba and you won't believe your eyes: huge blocks and blocks of marble spread out as far as the eye can see on both sides of the road, all surrounded by tractors and cranes... Impressive. This museum was built on the site of a marble quarry and is named after the owner of the quarry, Raquel de Castro.