Two brothers, Abel and João de Lacerda founded in the 1950's, a unusual museum in a small town called Caramulo, situated on a mountain in the center of Portugal with a luxuriant vegetation overlooking an 80 km valley, which is the vastest panoramic view of the country.

Abel de Lacerda, an art lover, has constructed a building based on the most recent concepts of modern museums so as to exhibit an unusual collection of art: 500 objects that range from sculptures, furniture, ceramics and tapestries from the Ancient Egipt era to Picasso.

João de Lacerda, great automobile lover, constructs another building next to the first, intending to exhibit 100 cars and motorbikes that are easily taken in and out of the Museum for maintenance and demonstrations.

With the premature death of Abel de Lacerda in 1957, the Fundação Abel de Lacerda was created – today Fundação Abel e João de Lacerda – the institution that runs the Museu do Caramulo, with both buildings for Art and Automobiles, open to the public all year round. More than one million visitors have come to the Museu do Caramulo in its fifty years of existence.