Museu Municipal de Numismática, Porto

Coins are small, but this collection tells a story on the scale of empires and kingdoms. Museu Municipal de Numismática forms part of the Museum of Porto, and its Numismatics Cabinet ranks among Portugal’s largest coin collections. Its holdings stretch from Greek and Roman coinage through Visigothic issues, the Christian kingdoms and Arab coinage, before arriving at Portuguese money.

That sweep makes this more than a display of old currency: it is a compact record of the powers, faiths and trading worlds that shaped the region across many centuries. From the street, the building’s ornamented façade gives this stop a suitably formal setting; once inside, the real fascination is the precision of objects made to circulate from hand to hand. The museum opens Tuesday through Sunday, from 10:00 to 17:30, and closes on public holidays. If you are visiting during opening hours, this is a chance to follow Portuguese history alongside the wider Mediterranean world through the coins that carried its rulers and symbols.