Museums and Palaces

Silves Municipal Archaeology Museum (Museu Municipal de Arqueologia de Silves)

The Silves Municipal Archaeology Museum was created in 1990 by initiative of the Municipal Council around the 12th-13th century Almohad cistern, an ex-libris of the whole collection and a jewel of Islamic heritage in Portugal.

Completely crammed in the 16th century, the space would come to serve as the ground for a dwelling house in the 19th century. Brought to light through the archaeological excavations of the 1980s, the cistern, in an excellent state of conservation, is a construction from the Almohad period, about 18 metres deep and 2.5 metres in diameter. The presence of the spiral staircase, in which three windows open at different heights, allowing access to the water according to the filling levels of the well, makes it a rare work of Islamic architecture and a unique example in Portugal, as well as being classified as a national monument.

The Museum's collections, which come from archaeological finds found in the region, are organised into various chronological clusters: prehistory, Roman period, Muslim period and modern period.

Also worthy of mention are the Iron Age funerary stars with records of the writing of the Peninsular Southwest, which, although still to be deciphered, is considered to be the first writing of this region.