National Coach Museum (Lisbon)

 museum, horse riding academy / horse riding school, transport museum, carriage museum

www.museudoscoches-ipmuseus.pt/en/frameset.htm

Collection of horse-drawn carriages
One of Lisbon's most visited sights, the Coaches Museum (Museu Nacional dos Coches) has the largest and most valuable collection of its type in the world. It is housed in a richly decorated 18th century royal riding school that is part of Belem Palace, illustrating the ostentation and staggering wealth of the old Portuguese elite.

Each coach is more magnificent than the other, showing how coach-makers went to extraordinary lengths to make their vehicles stand out. One of the most outstanding has gilded figures on the tailgate showing Lisbon crowned by Fame and Abundance and a dragon trampling the Muslim crescent

The Museu Nacional dos Coches was created by Queen Amélia de Orléans e Bragança, wife of King Carlos I, and is located in the building of the Royal Riding School of the Palace of Belém, later adapted to this use. Possessor of an unique collection of vehicles for ceremony and for travel from the 17th to 19th centuries, mostly from the Crown Assets or from the property of the Royal Family, the Museu Nacional dos Coches allows the visitor to understand the technical and artistic evolution of animal-pulled transport used by the European courts until the appearance of the automobile. In addition to the harnesses belonging to the vehicles, the collection also contains a significant collection of cavalry harness as well as uniforms for ceremonial and service uniforms for the coaches, a nucleus of armoury and 18th-century processional accessories.