Caramulo, 7th October, 2022 |
The first step was to convert some of the facilities to provide accommodation and to encourage “altitude
tourism”. The next phase was to build an art museum, which was completed in 1959. Part of which was
used to house Joao’s classic car collection. The museum proved to be the key to the stability they sought,
particularly the popularity of the automobile display, so it was decided to construct a new building
specifically to house the cars, which opened in 1970, just a few steps across the street from the main
building. The latest phase of the development has been the opening of the “Caramulo Experience Centre”,
which is housed in a 2400 square metres facility on the edge of the town. Here there is a display area for
cars and motorcycles, for which there is no space for display in the museum, together with a restoration
and maintenance shop, plus storage facility. |
Apart from the regular museum display vehicles, they also have regular themed display exhibitions, which are
held in the ground floor galleries of the original art museum. The summer 2022 exhibition featured classic and
current supercars, amongst which were Porsches in the form of a 918 Spyder and a Carrera GT, a Jaguar
XJ220, a Lamborghini Diablo VT, a McLaren 675 LT Spider, a lurid orange Mercedes-AMG GT Black Edition,
an Aston Martin V12 Roadster and a Ferrari Monza SP2, the latter finished in the pale green colour of the 250
GTO, chassis 3505GT. |
A bonus of a visit to the museum is the scenic drive up through the hills from the highway, worth doing for
that alone! |