Fundação José Saramago
Fundação José Saramago
4.5
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
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- Terreiro do Paço • 3 min walk
- Baixa/Chiado • 8 min walk
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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4.5
321 reviews
Excellent
176
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105
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31
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6
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LuizDutraNeto
Rio de Janeiro, RJ8,560 contributions
Apr 2019
At the historical "Baixa Pombalina" and not far from "Praça do Comércio", you will find "Casa dos Bicos". This 16th century construction was inspired by the "Palazzo dei Diamanti", a palace in Ferrara (Italy), and combines characteristics of the Renaissance style (the spikes on its façade) with Manueline windows and door frames. On its lower levels, a set of structures with ruins of Roman tanks (intended for salting and preserving fish), of the defensive "Fernandine Walls" built by King Dom Fernando I around the 14th century (and almost completely destroyed by Lisbon's 1755 earthquake) and of the old Moorish fence. Since 2012, "Casa dos Bicos" houses the "Fundação José Saramago", a museum with a permanent exhibition - "A semente e os frutos" - dedicated to honor the memory and the legacy of the brilliant writer and Nobel Prize Winner. Enjoy!
Written March 31, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ViagemSemEscalas
Rio de Janeiro, RJ1,982 contributions
Aug 2023 • Couples
Portugal is also literature. And Lisbon has a gem in its central area: the José Saramago Foundation, located in Casa dos Bicos.
There is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the writer’s life, called “The seed and the fruits”. There is the writer's typewriter, manuscripts and the various books that are true masterpieces of world literature.
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998 and the Camões Prize in 1995, Saramago is the author of more than 40 titles. He published his first book in 1947, called “The Widow”. He was an editorialist at “Diário de Lisboa” and director of “Diário de Notícias”.
His works were translated all over the world, such as “Essay on Blindness”, “All Names” and “The Elephant's Journey” - Viagem Sem Paras' favorite work.
Visiting the Foundation means promoting the dissemination of literature. Saramago's narrative, as Fernando Gómez Aguilera said, is marked by the demystification of History as the censorship of contemporary deviations based on the solidarity and compassion of human beings.
It is no coincidence that he was the first Nobel Prize winner for literature in the Portuguese language. There is also a tribute to the eternal Marielle Franco
There is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the writer’s life, called “The seed and the fruits”. There is the writer's typewriter, manuscripts and the various books that are true masterpieces of world literature.
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998 and the Camões Prize in 1995, Saramago is the author of more than 40 titles. He published his first book in 1947, called “The Widow”. He was an editorialist at “Diário de Lisboa” and director of “Diário de Notícias”.
His works were translated all over the world, such as “Essay on Blindness”, “All Names” and “The Elephant's Journey” - Viagem Sem Paras' favorite work.
Visiting the Foundation means promoting the dissemination of literature. Saramago's narrative, as Fernando Gómez Aguilera said, is marked by the demystification of History as the censorship of contemporary deviations based on the solidarity and compassion of human beings.
It is no coincidence that he was the first Nobel Prize winner for literature in the Portuguese language. There is also a tribute to the eternal Marielle Franco
Written August 29, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
siu_sim
Hong Kong, China29 contributions
Oct 2014
As a fan of Mr. Jose Saramago, I am super biased and he was actually the one who made me want to go to Lisbon (I live in HK and Lisbon is so so far away)
This is a museum that brought me a step closer to Mr. Saramago's life and understand more about him. It is just wonderful to see THE Beethoven's mask, which had stucked in my mind since "Skylight". It is wonderful to see his writing, diaries, photos and his study. The olive trees that brought from his hometown, which we are familiar with because of his book "Small Memories"... It was such a wonderful experience. He impacted my life tremendously and regreteed that I didn't know about him earlier in my life...(bookstores in HK had limited choices until the Taiwanese Eslite Bookstore came, where I found the book "Small Memories")
If you are not one of his fans yet, I highly recommend you to start reading his books, but don't read it late at night or you won't be able to get enough sleep!
I should add about the historical value about the museum, there are foundations of boarders that dated back many many years, and the exhibition is free on the ground floor. There are many information but I was too distracted by the exhibition upstairs...
This is a museum that brought me a step closer to Mr. Saramago's life and understand more about him. It is just wonderful to see THE Beethoven's mask, which had stucked in my mind since "Skylight". It is wonderful to see his writing, diaries, photos and his study. The olive trees that brought from his hometown, which we are familiar with because of his book "Small Memories"... It was such a wonderful experience. He impacted my life tremendously and regreteed that I didn't know about him earlier in my life...(bookstores in HK had limited choices until the Taiwanese Eslite Bookstore came, where I found the book "Small Memories")
If you are not one of his fans yet, I highly recommend you to start reading his books, but don't read it late at night or you won't be able to get enough sleep!
I should add about the historical value about the museum, there are foundations of boarders that dated back many many years, and the exhibition is free on the ground floor. There are many information but I was too distracted by the exhibition upstairs...
Written December 9, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
jehenson81
Washington DC, DC25,947 contributions
Oct 2014 • Solo
The building itself is really cool as are the roman ruins on the main level. However the main purpose of this house is to commemorate a famous Portuguese author who I have never heard of and really had no interest in learning about... See it from the outside and skip the inside...
Written October 23, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jack
Old Bethpage, NY3,409 contributions
Aug 2023 • Family
The Fundação José Saramago also known as Casa dos Bicol (House of spikes) is a museum on the ancient history of Lisbon. They even have Roman ruins. It’s a cool museum and I recommend visiting it.
Written July 30, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you very much!
Written October 12, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
joembor
Leopardstown, Ireland18 contributions
Oct 2017 • Couples
Visited only because of the reference to Jose Saramago, one of the great creative talents of the 20th century, and found a wonderful interior in a reconstructed renaissance exterior, with a free ground floor exhibit of exposed city walls and aspects of Portuguese history in Roman Times.
Written October 21, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
545medva
Budapest, Hungary3,894 contributions
Aug 2014 • Couples
If you are looking for Casa dos Bicos, than you wouldn't find it on Tripadvisor. However I beleive that most of Lisbon visitors recognize more the building as the Fundacao. THis is one of the most famous buildings in Lisbon, due to the very funny facade, which was built in 16. century. Diamont shape spikes are practically on the whole building with some renaissance windos and loggia. The house is now a museum dedicated to Jose Saramago, the great portuguise writer. On the first floor there are ruins from the roman period of the city.
Written June 19, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ErikB1959
Brussels, Belgium2 contributions
Sad how some people tend to boast their ignorance. Everybody should read city of the blind to learn how mankind is in desperate need for more understanding, if possible.
Written October 25, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JonOslo_Norway
Oslo, Norway65 contributions
Sep 2014 • Couples
The Casa dos Bicos ("House of the Spikes") is an interesting building with a historical facade dating from before the great earthquake of 1775. when it was heavily destroyed. The restored facade is interesting by itself as an architectural gem, but the inside today also reveals roman and moorish relicts of a fish business, part of the earliest settlement of Lisbon.
The house is now the property of the Saramaga foundation, rebuilt with even more interesting architecture and exhibiting the life and authorship of the 1998 Nobel Prize laureate José Saramago. He was a socialist/communist author during the dark days of the Salazar dictatorship. Unfortunately most of the information in the museum is in Portuguese only, and even the homepage http://www.josesaramago.org/ seems to be without any translation to English. For more information it is probably better to go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_dos_Bicos.
But I got really inspired to read something by Saramago, e.g. by the 1999 citation: "Our main task is to make ourselves more human. In their book entitled The Holy Family, Marx and Engels say something that cries out to be put into practice: "If man is shaped by circumstances, then we must shape those circumstances humanely!"
There is a low fee for entrance, but it is free for retired persons! A little les that 1 hour is sufficient for most visitors.
The house is now the property of the Saramaga foundation, rebuilt with even more interesting architecture and exhibiting the life and authorship of the 1998 Nobel Prize laureate José Saramago. He was a socialist/communist author during the dark days of the Salazar dictatorship. Unfortunately most of the information in the museum is in Portuguese only, and even the homepage http://www.josesaramago.org/ seems to be without any translation to English. For more information it is probably better to go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_dos_Bicos.
But I got really inspired to read something by Saramago, e.g. by the 1999 citation: "Our main task is to make ourselves more human. In their book entitled The Holy Family, Marx and Engels say something that cries out to be put into practice: "If man is shaped by circumstances, then we must shape those circumstances humanely!"
There is a low fee for entrance, but it is free for retired persons! A little les that 1 hour is sufficient for most visitors.
Written October 3, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
lykketg
6 contributions
Jul 2013
Our visit to the museum was great, the people very helpful and friendly, and a complete collection which was presented in a beautiful way. The collection is a nice introduction into saramago's work. A student ticket is only €2,-. Disadvantage is that not everything is translated into English, however, the most important facts are.
Certainly a tip for anyone who loves literature.
Certainly a tip for anyone who loves literature.
Written July 19, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Rita B
Salvador, BA
Gostaria de saber quem fundou a Fundação José Saramago, se foi ele ou Pilar Del Rio?
Written February 11, 2016
A Fundação José Saramago foi criada por diversas pessoas ligadas às letras e pela orientação do mesmo, ainda vivo, em Junho de 2007.Passou para a Casa dos Bicos em Junho de 2012 já após a sua morte em Junho de 2010.
Written February 12, 2016
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