Frederico de Freitas Museum House

The Museum
The Casa-Museu Frederico de Freitas is to be found at Casa da Calçada, the former residence of the Counts of Calçada whose family lived in this place since the mid 17th century. During its existence it has undergone many transformations and adaptations to new requirements, particularly during the 18th century and most of all in the 19th century, where at the end of the century it gained a romantic flavour.

From the 1940's it was the residence of Dr. Frederico de Freitas, a Madeiran lawyer and notary and collector of works of art.
The transition to the Calçada’s spacious villa afforded the collector the ideal space where, over more than three decades, he brought together major nuclei of Sculpture, Painting, Engraving, Furniture and Ceramics.

In his will he left his collections to the Autonomous Region of Madeira in 1978. Calçada House was then acquired by the Regional Government of Madeira with a view to conserving the collections in their original environment. Adaptation works were carried out to set up the Museum House inaugurated in June 1988. In 1999 the whole project foreseen for the institution was concluded, encompassing differentiated spaces: Entrance House with the reception/store services of the Museum, Educational Services and the future Drawings and Gravures Offices; the Main House, called Casa da Calçada; Casa dos Azulejos, a building specifically built to house the collection of Portuguese and Foreign Tiles, as well as the Auditorium and Cafetaria. Since 1988 the Museum has had a temporary exhibition room.

At the Casa-Museu Frederico de Freitas the collections are displayed in such a way as to reflect the ambiance of the former villa of the collector, with Portuguese and foreign decorative arts, from the mid-16th century to the 20th century.

As regards furniture, worthy of special mention are some Portuguese works from the mid-17th-18th centuries, as well as English furniture from the mid-18th and 19th centuries. Worthy of special mention is the collection of Portuguese sculpture from the mid-16th century to the 18th century, as well as a Cingalo and Indo-Portuguese ivory centre. Also worthy of special mention is the presence of Portuguese and European painting from the mid-18th century and 19th century as well as a notable collection of engravings, drawings and water colours of Madeira from the 19th century.
As regards ceramics, a vast range of types and origins is recognised, particularly with European and oriental examples.

At the Casa dos Azulejos a collection of English medieval examples from the 13th and 14th centuries, as well as Hispano-Moorish from the 15th and 16th centuries, the Italian-Flemish, Portuguese standard or polychrome pattern tiles from the 17th century as well as Portuguese examples from the 18th and 19th centuries and even from the 20th century. Also worthy of special mention are the notable sets of Dutch tiles from the 17th and 18th centuries, or the nuclei originating from the Middle and Far East.

Also part of the House, the Garden over Calçada is one of the rare elevated gardens still to be found in Funchal with the traditional small stone paving, the wine corridor and the Casinha de Prazer (Summer House).



Services:

Education
The Museum has educational services with their own technicians supporting the relationship with the various publics, children, young people, senior citizens and with special needs. It also provides an annual plan of activities with programmes for families, holidays and commemorations.

Reception/Store
At the Museum Reception/Store sale and distribution of informative material such as newsletters, guide books, postcards, posters, catalogues about the Museum, its collections or temporary events. Also sells reproductions of some pieces in the collections or from other Museums in the Region.

The Museum has an Auditorium and Cafetaria for its visitors.