museu do pão

Bread museum is a hit in Portugal
Seia, Portugal - In Portugal a baker is a symbol of national independence, and over 100 varieties of bread are made, so it is perhaps not surprising that a new museum dedicated to the food has become a top attraction.
The three-storey building nestled in a mountainous region near Seia, a town located about 350km northeast of Lisbon, has received over 300 000 visitors since it opened in September 2002.
Thousands more have eaten at its restaurant decorated with art made from varnished bread which provides sweeping views of the nearby Serra da Estrela, mainland Portugal's highest mountain range and home to its only ski resort.

Only the National Coach Museum in the Portuguese capital, which houses one of the world's largest collections of royal coaches from the 17th to 19th centuries, and the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in second-city Oporto, drew more visitors during this time.
"Bread is part of our day-to-day, everyone eats bread, and this makes people interested in it," museum spokeswoman Leonor Oliveira said, adding only one other museum exists in Europe, in Germany, dedicated solely to bread.
Most of the visitors to the privately-run museum are Portuguese, followed by Spanish, French, Danish and Dutch tourists. School groups make up the bulk of all visitors.
The museum, which covers over 3 500m2, includes displays on the oldest traditions of Portuguese bread making, from the tools used when sowing wheat to the songs sung during the milling of grains. --- in AFP - IOL