MUDAS Museum of Contemporary Art of Madeira
Paulo David's basalt-clad museum above the Calheta cliffs, holding Madeira's contemporary art collection.
The building was opened in 2004 as the Centro das Artes Casa das Mudas, designed by the Madeiran architect Paulo David on a headland above the sea at Calheta. Low volumes clad in dark local basalt step down the slope around courtyards and ramps, so that most of the accommodation is sunk into the terrain and the roofs read as terraces looking out over the Atlantic. The design brought the architect wide international attention.
Madeira's contemporary art collection, formed around prizes awarded in the 1960s and greatly enlarged during the 1990s, moved here from the Fortaleza de São Tiago in Funchal, and the museum opened as MUDAS on 8 October 2015. The galleries cover about 1,800 square metres and hold Portuguese work by artists including Helena Almeida, Rui Chafes, Fernanda Fragateiro and Joana Vasconcelos. The building also contains stores, a documentation centre, an auditorium, a shop and a café.
Highlights
- Basalt-clad building by Paulo David, cut into a cliff-top site
- About 1,800 square metres of gallery space over several levels
- Madeira's collection of Portuguese art from the 1960s onwards
- Auditorium, documentation centre and terraces over the Atlantic
