Lagos Slave Market Museum

Museum, Algarve News

The Mercado de Escravos museum on the Praca da Republica in Lagos occupies the site of what is believed to be the first European slave market, established in 1444. The museum documents the history of the Portuguese slave trade, displaying archaeological finds from the site and contextualising the trade within the broader history of the Age of Discovery. The museum is small but significant, addressing a chapter of history that Portugal has increasingly sought to acknowledge publicly. Entry is ticketed. The building itself is a reconstruction; the original market structure did not survive.