Museu de Cerâmica de Sacavém

The museum is located where kiln no. 18 once stood, and where it is possible to recover the memory of the old industrial unit, through the remaining collection of the old factory. In the surrounding space is located the Urbanização Real Forte, which continues to expand today and is already in Phase III.

Distinguished in 2002 with the Luigi Micheletti Prize (the highest European distinction in the category of industrial museum awarded by the European Museum Forum), the Museu de Cerâmica de Sacavém is housed in a 2-storey building, built from scratch in the year 2000 and dedicated to to study the history and production of the Sacavém Loiça Factory and the industrial heritage of the municipality of Loures, developing exhibition projects in this context.

The museum has 2 Exhibition Rooms, Workshops, Auditorium, Visitable Reserves, a specialized Documentation Center named after the founder of the Factory - Manuel Joaquim Afonso, Shop, Parking and access for people with reduced mobility.

Sacavém Crockery Factory, the story

Founded in 1856 by Manuel Joaquim Afonso, the factory was located in Quinta do Aranha, in Sacavém , having reached, in its heyday, an area of 70,000 m² , owing part of its success to the proximity of the train station (it arrived the existence of a particular rail connection to the Port of Lisbon and Santa Apolónia) as well as the quality of its production.

The famous phrase " Sacavém is another tableware! " is due to the quality of the ceramics produced there, and some of his works still stand out in the rich panorama of national tiles, with the initial contribution of the painter Jorge Colaço, such as: a São Bento Station, (Porto, 1903), the Palace-Hotel do Buçaco , (Luso, 1907), Sports Pavilion , (Lisbon 1922), or the Casa do Alentejo (Lisbon).

After some financial difficulties, in 1863, the factory was eventually sold to an Englishman, John Stott Howorth, who modernized it by introducing new production techniques from the United Kingdom. In a few years, thanks to the growth of exports to markets such as the English one, Fábrica da Loiça became one of the most important in Portugal in the field of ceramic production, competing with Fábrica da Vista Alegre in Ílhavo. In view of the success achieved, King Luís I conferred on Howorth the title of Baron de Howorth de Sacavém, and granted the factory permission to use the Real Fábrica de Loiça de Sacavém brand, a name that came to distinguish many of the tableware produced here. .

After the Baron's death, in 1893, Baroness Howorth de Sacavém, in partnership with the former bookkeeper of the factory, James Gilman, took over the company's destinies, maintaining its expansion and modernization, having in 1912 (already after the death of baroness) an 8 meter high and 85 meter long tunnel kiln was built, using reinforced concrete, for the first time in Portugal.

The success and size of this industrial unit were at the origin of the growth of the village of Sacavém, which of the 350 inhabitants at the time of its inauguration, 40 years later more than half of the almost 1890 inhabitants worked at the factory, attracting workers from various parts of the country, in such a way that in 1927 it was given the status of a town.

On the other hand, the Sacavém Crockery Factory was a pioneer in many measures, such as: the creation of a school within the factory, the existence of a mutual help box for its workers, the right to paid vacations, and the institution of summer camps for the children of factory workers.

After the 25th of April 1974, the Crockery Factory in Sacavém, the result of political upheaval and financial difficulties, ended up closing in 1983 and declared bankrupt in 1994.