It is located on Rua Santos Barosa, in the city of Marinha Grande, in the district of Leiria, in the province of Estremadura, part of the Intermunicipal Community of the Region of Leiria, in the region of Central Portugal
The Santos Barosa Fábrica de Vidro Museum is an industrial museum opened in 1989 during the company's centenary celebrations and housed in the old office building.
Throughout its history, Santos Barosa has produced almost every type of glass item, from flat glass to crystal glassware, including pressed items, glass tubes, lighting items and glass for packaging, a production to which it is dedicated exclusively today.
Under these conditions, it was possible to bring together a set of memories, products and equipment that, on display at the museum, end up providing the visitor with an overview of the history of the Portuguese glass industry.
The collection of this Museum, from the scope of industrial archaeology, consists of glass pieces and industrial equipment linked to the production, transformation and decoration of glass.
The Santos Barosa Museum has contributed to the dissemination of the history of the glass industry and presents utensils for manual glass production, tools and utensils used in the glass industry in the 19th and 20th centuries and the reconstruction of a kiln.
The Santos Barosa Museum shows reproductions of famous designs, the glass production processes and enhances the aesthetic and artistic character of the pieces.
The Real Fábrica de Vidros Cristalinos de Coina (1719-1747) was a pioneering structure in the Iberian Peninsula, the precursor of techniques and models that continued to be used for centuries.
In its time it was the only supplier of fine glass, panes and mirrors in Portugal and it was a project cherished by D. João V who made a point of visiting the facilities and was a consumer of the huge range of products available.
In the past, the Real Fábrica de Vidros Cristalinos de Coina even sent products to China and supplied the gigantic Mafra Convent with its products.
The crown intended to launch into the glass sector and the opportunity arose in a context of great development of manufacturing and public works in Portugal.
Coina had a strategic location in the region and met essential conditions to host such an initiative: it was an area of fine sand, essential for the fusion of glass, surrounded by vast pine forests that would serve as fuel for the furnaces, and it had ancestral technical experience accumulated locally and transmitted mainly by foreigners versed in this art.
A period of great expansion and discovery of the potential of glass that was beginning to be present everywhere.
There the first Portuguese master glassmakers were trained and experiments were carried out, unraveling the mysteries of the activity, delving deeper into techniques and methods.
The royal manufacture that provided the luxurious and varied construction of the Convent of Mafra had 15 warehouses that were responsible for distributing the objects manufactured by customers across the country.
The promotion of national production prohibited imports and gave factory management authority to search ships suspected of smuggling.
From this factory, delicate objects were shipped to China, ranging from the most common glasses and glass panes, delicate laboratory equipment, urinals, trinkets, perfume bottles, mirrors, cut glass, enamelled with exuberant decoration in the baroque style that was inaugurated at the time and was evident in architecture.
Coina was considered a large factory in the Portuguese and European panorama, employing more than 30 adults and an indeterminate number of children for cleaning tasks in difficult-to-access areas.
The glass workers lived around the factory and included many foreigners and marriages and other types of connections were made with the locals, mixing the life of the communities.
When the Real factory closed its doors, its heritage was not lost but was perpetuated in Marinha Grande where the Coina catalogs were used as a guide, they were a true manual for the sector, many objects produced there can still be admired today in museums and national monuments.
Throughout its history, Santos Barosa has produced almost every type of glass item, from flat glass to crystal glassware, including pressed items, glass tubes, lighting items and glass for packaging, a production to which it is dedicated exclusively today.
Under these conditions, it was possible to bring together a set of memories, products and equipment that, on display at the museum, end up providing the visitor with an overview of the history of the Portuguese glass industry.
The collection of this Museum, from the scope of industrial archaeology, consists of glass pieces and industrial equipment linked to the production, transformation and decoration of glass.
The Santos Barosa Museum has contributed to the dissemination of the history of the glass industry and presents utensils for manual glass production, tools and utensils used in the glass industry in the 19th and 20th centuries and the reconstruction of a kiln.
The Santos Barosa Museum shows reproductions of famous designs, the glass production processes and enhances the aesthetic and artistic character of the pieces.
The Real Fábrica de Vidros Cristalinos de Coina (1719-1747) was a pioneering structure in the Iberian Peninsula, the precursor of techniques and models that continued to be used for centuries.
In its time it was the only supplier of fine glass, panes and mirrors in Portugal and it was a project cherished by D. João V who made a point of visiting the facilities and was a consumer of the huge range of products available.
In the past, the Real Fábrica de Vidros Cristalinos de Coina even sent products to China and supplied the gigantic Mafra Convent with its products.
The crown intended to launch into the glass sector and the opportunity arose in a context of great development of manufacturing and public works in Portugal.
Coina had a strategic location in the region and met essential conditions to host such an initiative: it was an area of fine sand, essential for the fusion of glass, surrounded by vast pine forests that would serve as fuel for the furnaces, and it had ancestral technical experience accumulated locally and transmitted mainly by foreigners versed in this art.
A period of great expansion and discovery of the potential of glass that was beginning to be present everywhere.
There the first Portuguese master glassmakers were trained and experiments were carried out, unraveling the mysteries of the activity, delving deeper into techniques and methods.
The royal manufacture that provided the luxurious and varied construction of the Convent of Mafra had 15 warehouses that were responsible for distributing the objects manufactured by customers across the country.
The promotion of national production prohibited imports and gave factory management authority to search ships suspected of smuggling.
From this factory, delicate objects were shipped to China, ranging from the most common glasses and glass panes, delicate laboratory equipment, urinals, trinkets, perfume bottles, mirrors, cut glass, enamelled with exuberant decoration in the baroque style that was inaugurated at the time and was evident in architecture.
Coina was considered a large factory in the Portuguese and European panorama, employing more than 30 adults and an indeterminate number of children for cleaning tasks in difficult-to-access areas.
The glass workers lived around the factory and included many foreigners and marriages and other types of connections were made with the locals, mixing the life of the communities.
When the Real factory closed its doors, its heritage was not lost but was perpetuated in Marinha Grande where the Coina catalogs were used as a guide, they were a true manual for the sector, many objects produced there can still be admired today in museums and national monuments.
