Maritime Museum, Lisbon, Portugal

The Maritime Museum in Lisbon is one of the most important in Europe, evoking Portugal's domination of the seas over many years. Its colossal 17,000 items are installed in the west wing of Jeronimos Monastery, and include model ships from the Age of Discovery onward. The oldest exhibit is a wooden figure representing the Archangel Raphael that accompanied Vasco da Gama on his voyage to India.

Other highlights are two 18th century ceremonial barges (one of them built for Queen Maria I that remained operational for almost two hundred years, transporting famous passengers such as Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Queen Elizabeth II of England), a 19th century royal cabin from the yacht of Queen Amelia, the seaplane "Santa Cruz" that made the first crossing of the south Atlantic in 1922, the world's largest collection of astrolabes*, and replicas of 16th century maps showing the world as it was known then.

(*Astrolabes are instruments used to make astronomical measurements, typically of the altitudes of celestial bodies, and in navigation for calculating latitude, before the development of the sextant.)

I took many pictures on our visit to the museum, some are included here.