Museu do Papel Terras de Santa Maria

The Museu do Papel Terras de Santa Maria, in the village of Paços de Brandão, opened on 26 October 2001 as the first museum in Portugal devoted to the history of paper. It is run by Santa Maria da Feira council, and it won the Portuguese museums association (APOM) prize for best Portuguese museum in 2011.

It exists here because paper has been made in this area for more than 300 years. The first paper mill in the municipality opened in 1708, and papermaking is still one of the main local industries. The museum stands at Rio Maior, where an 1887 survey mapped a whole row of paper mills, weirs and water channels.

The museum occupies two old paper factories. The Fábrica de Papel de Custódio Pais began on 26 October 1822, when Lourença Pinto and Joaquim de Carvalho signed their partnership. It was the sixth paper mill in the municipality and the only one with a woman among its founders, which is why the old hand-mill inside is called the Engenho da Lourença (Lourença’s mill). In 1916 the mill became a factory with a machine that made paper continuously, and it kept working in the same family until 1989.

Next door, the Fábrica de Papel dos Azevedos was founded in 1825 and made wrapping paper and fine writing paper; its writing paper won a medal from King Luís I in 1863. It closed in 1966. Today it holds the reception, the shop, the education rooms and a library about the Portuguese paper industry.

The permanent exhibition, “Do Engenho à Fábrica” (From mill to factory), shows the two big stages of papermaking in Portugal. In the Engenho da Lourença, paper was made one sheet at a time between 1822 and 1916. Old cotton rags were cut up and beaten into a wet pulp, a frame was dipped into the vat to lift out a thin layer, and the sheets were pressed and hung up to dry. Children can see the Casa do Cilindro (the beating room), the hydraulic circuit that brought water to the mill, and the Casa do Espande, the airy loft where sheets were hung to dry.

In the Casa da Máquina (machine house) is the round-form continuous paper machine used from 1916 to 1989. Rather than making sheets one by one, it turned pulp into a single long ribbon of paper, rolled up at the end. Children who like machines with rollers, belts and big wheels usually spend longest here. Other rooms include the Casa do Lixador and the Sacaria, where paper sacks were made, and a section on cardboard.

A second exhibition, “Da Floresta ao Papel” (From forest to paper), made with a modern paper company, explains how paper is produced today. Temporary exhibitions change through the year; one on origami ran from October 2025 to January 2026.

On guided visits, visitors make a sheet of cotton paper themselves and fold “cartuchos”, the old paper bags used in grocery shops, repeating the movements of the mill workers.

Most workshops are for booked groups of at least ten. For schools they include making paper from cotton rags in the Engenho da Lourença (for pre-school children), recycled paper turned into notebooks, bookmarks and kites (for ages 8 to 10), kirigami for ages 9 and up, origami, the grocer’s paper bag and seasonal paper crafts for carnival and Christmas. A home-education group of ten or more can book these.

The museum’s family event is “Papeleiros por Um Dia” (Papermakers for a day). Each family brings an old pair of 100% cotton jeans, cuts it up and puts it in to be beaten into pulp in the morning, tours the museum while it refines, has a picnic in the garden at lunchtime, and spends the afternoon making and drying sheets of blue paper to take home. Contact the museum for this year’s date.

Every year around its 26 October anniversary, the museum holds a Semana Aberta (open week) with seven days of free visits, workshops and other activities. It also sets up a working paper mill at the Viagem Medieval, Santa Maria da Feira’s big medieval festival in the summer, where visitors can watch paper being made by hand from rags.

Visitors from outside Santa Maria da Feira paid €2.50 per adult and €1.50 for ages 6 to 17 when checked in September 2026. The family rate (two adults with their children) is cheaper: €1.50 per adult and €0.75 per child aged 6 or over. Children up to 5 visiting with their family go free, and residents with a municipal library card pay less.

Guided visits and visit-plus-workshop sessions must be booked, ideally 30 days ahead, and need at least ten people; there is a family rate for workshops too. Groups must include an adult responsible for the children.

The museum opens Tuesday to Friday from 09:30 to 17:00 and at weekends from 14:30 to 17:30, with last entry half an hour before closing. It is closed on Mondays, public holidays, Easter and Christmas.

The museum is well set up for families. It has reserved parking, lifts, a mobile platform, wide corridors, ramps, rest areas, an adapted toilet and baby-changing facilities, and a wheelchair you can borrow at reception. Audio guides are available in Portuguese and English, with audio description and Portuguese Sign Language, and tactile replicas of the machines can be requested when booking.

Food and drink are not allowed inside, you can only touch objects prepared for handling, and bags and backpacks are left at reception. If you bring a dog, reception can provide a mat and water bowl, and the dog stays leashed outside the exhibition. The shop sells things made at the museum from recycled paper, such as notebooks, labels and paper flowers.

Weekend opening is afternoons only, so a Saturday visit means arriving after 14:30. Without a booked workshop, the hands-on part is limited, so for a craft-loving child it is worth phoning ahead to ask about family activities. The museum is small and calm, which suits children who find big attractions overwhelming.

Santa Maria da Feira hosts the Viagem Medieval in summer and the Perlim Christmas park in winter; see What’s on. South of Feira, Arouca has the Museu das Trilobites with giant fossils and the Paiva walkways and 516 Arouca bridge. For another hands-on workshop, the Oficina do Doce in Aveiro lets children make ovos moles.

Can children make paper at the Museu do Papel?

Yes, on guided visits and workshops, which need booking and at least ten people, and on the family “Papeleiros por Um Dia” day. On a free visit you see the process without making paper yourself.

How much does it cost for a family?

With the family rate, two parents pay €1.50 each and each child from 6 pays €0.75, when checked in September 2026. Under-6s are free.

Is it open at weekends?

Yes, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 14:30 to 17:30. It is closed on Mondays and public holidays.

Is it buggy and wheelchair friendly?

Yes. The museum lists lifts, ramps, a mobile platform, wide corridors and an adapted toilet with baby-changing.