Aliança Underground Museum

Useful Information

Location:	Aliança Vinhos de Portugal, Rua do Comercio 444, Sangalhos (Anadia's country), Bairrada region.
Open:	All year daily 10-17. Tours at 10, 11:30, 14:30, 16. Closed on 01-JAN, Easter, 25-DEC. [2020]
Fee:	Adults EUR 3, Children (0-12) free. Reservation required. [2020]
Classification:	Museum
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=90 min, Max=50,
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Aliança Underground Museum, Aliança Vinhos de Portugal, Rua do Comercio 444, Sangalhos 3780-124, Tel: +351-234-732-090, Fax: +351-234-732-005. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1927	Aliança Vinhos de Portugal founded by 11 associates led by Domingos Silva and Ângelo Neves, in Sangalhos.
1998	José Berardo becomes main shareholder Bacalhôa Vinhos de Portugal, S.A..
2007	Bacalhôa becomes the largest shareholder in the Aliança Vinhos de Portugal.

Description

The Aliança Underground Museum is located inside the wine cellar of the huge winery Aliança Vinhos de Portugal. It offers both, a classical wine cellar tour, and also a famous art museum. The art museum was founded by the famous art collector José Berardo, who used spare parts of the Aliança wine cellars for the exhibition of his personal art collection. The museum has eight different exhibitions: art, archaeology, ethnography, mineralogy, palaeontology, tiles and ceramics. One topic is the London Underground, the name is often shown with the London Underground symbol instead of the word "Underground" in the middle. And the map of museum is designed like the underground map too. Other impressive exhibits are the wide range of azulejos, hand-painted tiles, and the selection of ceramic animals by the ceramics company Bordallo Pinheiro.

And there are cellars full of huge oak barrels with maturing wines and brandies. Sometimes the exhibition rooms are full of wooden barrels. The production scale is quite impressive: the biggest oak barrels contain 17,000 litres of brandy each! They are self-made by the winery. At the end of the tour any adult participant gets a glass of sparkling wine for free.