Covilhã used to be the centre of one of Europe’s biggest wool-producing regions, but stray outside the centre and you’ll see the town’s ghostly mills standing empty and forlorn. This interesting museum, housed in the former royal textile factory, traces the area's proud but vanishing history of wool production and cloth dyeing.
A map shows the 100-plus wool producers that once thrived in this region, while other displays illustrate how carmine and indigo dyes from the New World were used to colour Portuguese military uniforms. And even if yarn makes you yawn, you may be impressed by the gigantic old looms and dyeing vats.
