Attracted by the twin offering of a tour of a decommissioned power station, and a modern art installation we dashed in - our main mistake. You need time to appreciate the detailed effort which has gone into making the huge items of machinery and their uses, spread over several floors and halls, accessible to visitors, and we ran out of time. What we did see was fascinating, but I can believe that some interest in machines and human ingenuity involved in electricity generating will be a great help.

The art installation was a promotion of "young artists" - and that should have been a warning. Most of it was faddish, a little desperate for ideas, and overly navel-gazing - very much the preserve of youth I suppose, and much was also incomprehensible, not helped by spoken word devices in Portuguese and French for the most part.

One single exhibit did leap out - a portrait of a lady in twenties fashion, over a desk with a series of photos, in a moodily lit corner. Very atmospheric, and begging an answer to the question of what had happened to create this.

Just playing with words. This is a fascinating location with an interesting history of how this station powered Lisbon. They have preserved large portions of the original mechanisms and give thorough technical explanations and historical facts. We were fortunate to be invited to an event held inside. The interior has been restored and presented in a very interesting and attractive manner with several levels and views from different angles. Fascinating location.

The building of former power plant is spectacular. It feels almost as temple of technology. The museum is very interesting. One could divide it in two parts: one is dedicated to the power station, the other - to technology in general, mostly to energy-related physics.
Also don’t miss the walk along the beautiful modern embankment.