Sacavém Ceramics Museum

Although Portugal is known for its Vista Alegre china, it had a big competitor in the shape of the Sacavém ceramics factory.

This pottery, created in the mid-eighteen hundreds, became one of the best-known producers of fine faience in Portugal and Europe thanks to its kaolin-based pottery, a very pure form of clay.

Its manufacturing processes were modernised by an Englishman who raised production to such an extent that he was awarded the title of Baron of Howorth of Sacavém by King Luís I.

The collectivism and pioneering approach to caring for the factory’s employees turned Sacavém into one of the most important factories in the country – and a hotbed of anti-fascist feeling.

Closed after countless financial and management problems in 1994, the area beside kiln no. 18 was converted into a museum explaining the history of the factory – and Portugal’s development in the 20th century.