Description of the museum

IVBAM Museum Centre

The IVBAM Museum Centre houses items which show the history and culture of Madeira Embroidery.  The influence of this handicraft industry has been important in the economy, culture and social life of the island from the second half of the 19th and in the early decades of the 20th century.  

This museum honours a century-old art, exhibiting to the visitor a sample of items which are true relics, produced over some 150 years, vouching to the refinement, luxury and perfection which were always the common denominators of this art, which by its attributes was transformed into an internationally recognized brand.  

The Museum houses a collection of Madeira Embroidery items produced between the 1860s up to the 1930s, reproducing the so-called romantic period.  Throughout these decades Madeira Embroidery had various uses, from clothing, under clothing and costumes, to bed linen, tablecloths, bathroom accessories and other items to meticulously adorn bedrooms, lounges and bathrooms.  These items are exhibited in areas which recreate the environments of that era.  

A collection of Madeira Embroidery reflecting Romantic Madeira is displayed in the main room, set in environments that reproduce social customs, complemented with Madeira tapestries and predominantly English style pieces of furniture and decorative oriental items of the 18th and 19th centuries.  There are also some traditional costumes of the era on display in this room and representative items of clothing worn at the time.  

In a second room there are also items that were used in the private areas of the home - bath and bedroom - where Madeira Embroidery was used profusely.  

The Museum shows yet another sample of the phases of the entire production process displayed in a third room, where photographs of the factory work in the early century can also be viewed.  Instruments used historically in producing Madeira Embroidery are also displayed in this room.  

This room includes an area displaying a set of Madeira Embroidery items designed by Lourdes de Castro, a famous contemporary Madeiran artist.  Other emblematic items are also displayed in this area, including a piece representing the Portuguese discoveries created to be exhibited at Expo 98, the world exhibition held in Lisbon.