Casa Museu Frederico de Freitas

About the Frederico de Freitas House Museum

Passing through the steep Calçada de Santa Clara, it is difficult to ignore the imposing building, with an appealing reddish colour that is present there. It is an outstanding element of the urban civil architecture of the historic area of São Pedro and the centre of Funchal. The Casa Museu Frederico de Freitas houses an unmissable art collection.

This building, also known as Casa da Calçada, was once the residence of the Condes da Calçada. It later became the property of Frederico de Freitas (1894-1978), a Madeiran lawyer, notary and collector, who bequeathed his extensive collection of works of art to the Autonomous Region of Madeira in 1978.

The collection presented in the Casa Museu Frederico de Freitas has a rich collection of sculpture, painting, engravings, furniture, ceramics, crystals and pewter objects. The origin of these works dates back to the 17th and 19th centuries.

The engravings that reflect elements of regional culture are a relevant part of the estate of the Casa Museu Frederico de Freitas, constituting important iconographic sources from the 18th and 19th centuries. Religious themes are predominant in sculptures and paintings. However, the museum project was only finalised in 1999, when the Casa dos Azulejos, built to house the eclectic collection of tiles, was completed.