If it weren’t for a random story I spotted years ago in National Geographic, I’d probably still be blissfully unaware of one of Lisbon’s most bizarre and captivating attractions—just ten minutes downhill from Tings Lisbon.
Hospital de Bonecas—known locally as the Doll Hospital—is unique even by Lisbon’s quirky standards.
I stumbled across a quote from National Geographic (November 22, 2017), describing the hospital’s founder and her “motley crew of patients”—from elaborately-costumed German porcelain dolls to a black doll made in Angola in 1915. Some dolls have crossed oceans with immigrants and refugees, carrying their family stories.
As the owner Cutileiro says:
“We don’t value one over another here. To us, all the dolls are valuable.”
What I found at Hospital de Bonecas was the weirdest museum experience I’ve ever had. One room overflows with dolls in all sizes, colors, and ‘conditions’. Elsewhere, rows of shelves and drawers brim with eyes, limbs, and spare parts—the “ingredients” for the doll doctors’ magical repairs. It’s a tradition begun in 1830, when Carlota Georgina Severo started the hospital after seeing a child weep over her broken doll.
How cute is that?
Hospital de Bonecas was founded in 1830 by Dona Carlota, who started by sewing and repairing rag dolls for local children in Praça da Figueira only 10 minutes walk down the hill from Tings. Passed down through five generations, today it is both a busy repair shop and a museum full of childhood memories, tradition, and craft.
Manuela Cutileiro, the current owner, explains:
“We have a baby Jesus today, he came with a problem with his fingers… The hospital happens to be a poly-trauma unit. We have five doll surgeons here, all of whom have received certification.”
You can visit the Doll Museum all year. But at Christmas time its something special.
I only found out why at a later visit.
When the Portuguese unpack all their Christmas decoration items, a lot of the old Baby Dolls they use for the Baby Jesus in their Christmas Cribs breaks. As the cribs have to be ‘up’ before Christmas they need to fix the Baby Jesus asap.
The Doll Doctors at Hospital de Bonecas are the only ones who can do that. So they are busy in December healing Dolls.
Highly recommended
Thomas