Silves, Portugal, July 9, 2026 (Lusa) - The Cork Museum, housed in the Fábrica do Inglês in Silves, in the Algarve, reopens on Saturday, after a sixteen-year hiatus, to welcome 300 pre-registered visitors, the museum’s director told Lusa on Thursday.
The opening will take place between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. and marks the resumption of public visits to one of the country’s most iconic industrial museums.
“We will be opening exceptionally on Saturday for around 300 people who have registered, although further visits are planned, three to four days a week, during July, August and September, with timings yet to be confirmed,” said the museum’s director.
Elsa Lopes explained that the industrial museum “is still undergoing restoration”, a project being carried out in phases to refurbish the building.
“The museum is still undergoing restoration. We have electricity from a generator and are carrying out the restoration step by step, so that we can gradually open to the public and continually improve the visitor experience,” she said.
According to the director, the museum will open on specific dates this year, while work continues to enhance the collection and exhibition spaces; an extension of opening hours is planned for next year.
The Cork Museum was acquired by Dutch businessman Erik de Vlieger, who has lived in the Algarve region for around 20 years. According to the director, “the purchase was driven by emotional reasons”.
“Mr Vlieger bought the site because he felt strongly about preserving such an important and historic collection,” she noted.
Elsa Lopes added that the Cork Museum will, “in future, include a room dedicated to children, where activities such as cork-making workshops will be held”.
The Fábrica do Inglês was founded on 2 January 1894 by the cork company Avern, Sons & Barris, which had links to the London and Catalan industries.
In 1918, under the management of Victor Sadler, the plant was modernised and became one of the largest cork processing factories in the country.
The industrial complex became a museum in 1999, preserving the old cork production line virtually intact and showcasing the sector’s industrial heritage. In 2001, the Cork Museum received the Luigi Micheletti Award for Best Industrial Museum in Europe and, in that same year, welcomed over 100,000 visitors.
The museum closed in 2009 following the insolvency of the owning company, and remained closed for 16 years. The reopening, which has now begun, restores to the public a space dedicated to preserving the memory of the cork industry and the industrial history of the Algarve, although the full restoration of the complex is still ongoing.
JPC/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
