Museum D.Fernando II e Glória Frigate

The D. Fernando II e Glória Frigate is the last exclusively sailing ship in the Portuguese Navy and the last "Nau" of the "Carreira da Índia", a true military line that for more than 3 centuries made the connection between Portugal and its indian former colony. It was also the last large ship to be built at the royal shipyard in Daman (State of India) where it was launched in 1843 and then towed to Goa to be armed and rigged.

The ship was baptized with the name of D. Fernando II and Glória in honor of D. Fernando Saxe Coburgo-Gotha, husband of Queen D. Maria II of Portugal and the Queen herself whose name was Maria da Glória.

Between 1865 and 1938, anchored in the Tagus, it functioned as a Naval Artillery School.

In 1947, the ship became the headquarters of a social work that would welcome many teenagers and young men, mostly orphans and from disadvantaged classes, who received school training and naval technical training so that they could later work in the Navy, fishing or merchant.

In 1963, while still in these functions, the D. Fernando II e Glória suffered a major fire that largely destroyed it, having been half submerged in the Tagus River until 1992, when it was decided to promote the recovery and restoration of the ship.

The reconstruction of the hull took place at the Ria Marine shipyard in Aveiro. In 1997 she returned to Lisbon to complete the restoration work on the Arsenal do Alfeite and to equip it to serve as a museum ship. In April 1998 it was handed over to the Navy as an Auxiliary Unit and opened to the public at EXPO 98.