Resistance Museum
About This Museum
The Tarrafal Concentration Camp Museum stands apart not just as a museum, but as the preserved site of a former political prison, a place where the very walls seem to hold the heavy silence of its past. It was here that the Portuguese colonial and later Salazar regimes imprisoned and isolated dissidents from Portugal and its African colonies. Walking through the stark, sun-bleached barracks and solitary confinement cells is an intensely sobering experience. The museum forces a direct confrontation with a difficult chapter of 20th-century history, making it an essential but emotionally challenging visit.
Collection Highlights
You'll find simple yet powerful displays of prisoners' personal belongings—a worn-out shoe, a handmade utensil—alongside photographs and documents that tell their stories. One of the most chilling exhibits is the prison hospital, which reveals the brutal medical neglect inmates faced. The preserved isolation cells, small and dark, stand as the collection's most visceral testament to the cruelty inflicted here.
Visitor Information
Give yourself at least an hour to walk the grounds quietly and absorb the weight of this place; it's not a rushed experience. The Cabo Verdean sun is relentless, so bring water and sun protection for moving between buildings. Be prepared for a somber mood—this is more pilgrimage than typical tourist outing.
Architecture & Building
The complex is defined by functional, austere colonial-era military architecture, with low-slung stone and concrete barracks topped with red-tiled roofs spread across a dusty, open plain.
