Museums and Palaces

Dedicated to Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux during the Second World War, this Virtual Museum tells the story and background to his acts of disobedience regarding the guidelines issued by the Portuguese government. Consciously ignoring the guidelines received, Aristides de Sousa Mendes signed visas enabling around 30,000 people, of various nationalities, predominantly Jewish, to escape from Nazi persecution.

The exhibition, constituted by hitherto unseen films and documents pertaining to Portuguese and foreign archives, is subdivided into three corridors, structured in a chronological and sequential order– War Corridor, Flight Corridor and Freedom Corridor. The latter emphasises the places where refugees were harboured in Portugal, which in addition to Lisbon and Coimbra included bathing resorts and thermal spa such as Estoril, Sintra, Cascais, Caldas da Rainha, Figueira da Foz, Luso, Buçaco and Curia.

The Museum also has a Knowledge Base in which it is possible to consult documents, photographs and oral statements by the refugees saved by Aristides de Sousa Mendes.