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| The
corner to the São Francisco Wine Cellars
Museum in central Funchal |
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The
São Francisco or Saint Francis cellar
museum and wine lodge was originally a monastery
- that is, until the Portuguese authority expelled
the religious order of monks from Portuguese soil
in 1834. The museum is considered to be one of the
most atmospheric in Madeira. There are a cluster
of old buildings round a cobbled central courtyard
with banana and palm trees. The original and well
kept interiors and equipment have been preserved to
offer as authentic as possible the environment as
it was enjoyed through the century and half since
the Blandy family of wine makers started producing
and shipping Madeira wine from there.
The
museum itself is a collection of documents
and Madeira wine artefacts. There is a seventeenth
century wooden lagar from Porto
Santo (an early wine press), instruments of
the trade - including a token working cooperage,
measuring tools, historical labels,
and so on. The aromas of wine and resting wooden barrels
in the air all help to promote the rich and enthusing
exhibit of an old Madeira wine tradition. The
museum cellars contain several wooden vats, made from
mahogany, oak and satin wood.
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| Detail
of a wine harvester on a mural by Max Romer at
the São Francisco Wine Museum |
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For
groups of visitors there is a regular guided tour
each day. A video presentation is also made available
for the Madeira wine enthusiast. That is, if the oenophile
has time to see the presentation whilst trying out
some of the rare vintage wines in the special wine
tasting sessions.
Proving to many guests how special and popular this
extrasensory and quietly interactive
museum can be...
The
museum visitor is afforded another imbibing experience
of colour, light and character with the important
collection of murals by the German artist Max Romer.
The works of art on display show some day to day Madeira
Wine making related themes: folklore, harvesting,
wine pressing, and so on. The museum and wine cellars
are frequented, according to the Madeira Wine Company,
by more than a quarter million visitors annually -
many of them repeat visitors.
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