Museu Municipal da Filigrana de Gondomar

Located in Valbom, Gondomar, this museum showcases the rich tradition of filigree jewelry-making, featuring approximately 60 unique pieces, including a replica of the Belém Tower and a filigree dress designed by Micaela Oliveira.

Planning your visit

Gondomar has made filigree for centuries, and the craft is genuinely difficult: fine gold or silver wire, drawn to hair thickness, twisted and soldered into openwork patterns without any supporting sheet behind it. The Portuguese tradition produces the coração de Viana — the ornate heart worn at festivals — and the elaborate earrings and pendants of northern regional dress.

The museum in Valbom holds around 60 pieces, including a filigree replica of the Belém Tower and a filigree dress by Micaela Oliveira, both demonstrations of what the technique can be pushed to.

Workshops in the town still produce by hand, and the craft is under pressure from cost and from declining apprenticeship.

Gondomar sits on the Douro just upstream from Porto.

Allow an hour. Bookable options include artisan tours with wine. Current availability is listed below.