The “House of Light” Electricity Museum is installed in the space of the old Funchal Thermal Power Station, opened in 1897, by the then Madeira Electric Lighting Company Limited, Madeira's first electricity concessionaire.
In the year 1949 the Municipalized Electricity Services, a public entity, appeared. In 1974, the public company (EEM) was inaugurated, responsible for the production, transport and distribution of electricity in the Madeira Archipelago. In 1989 the Funchal Thermal Power Station was deactivated. Since that date, the Electricity Museum ”Casa da Luz” was installed there.
The Museum has an exhibition on various themes: part of it shows the visitor various types of lighting used in Funchal and their urban furniture, from the first examples of oil lamps to modern lamps, this part of the exhibition is called “Lights of the Funchal ”.
The second part of the exhibition, entitled “A century of Electricity”, shows the history of the evolution of electrification on the island. In this part we can see different machinery, with the two main forms of electric energy production: thermal and hydraulic. It is also visible several models of power stations and an oro-hydrographic chart that demonstrates the gradual electrification of the archipelago.
Finally, we can also see a third area on “energy sources”. In this part of the exhibition there is an explanation of the various energy sources, namely in relation to renewable energies. There is also an area dedicated to science and technology, equipped with interactive equipment and multimedia software. In this space we can use equipment such as computers with software suited to the theme, virtual reality helmet, plasma ball, Faraday cage, fiber optics and multimedia kiosk, where you can explore the Museum's CD-rom.
The Electricity Museum also has a temporary exhibition area, a documentation center, auditorium, shop and a cafeteria, being equipped with accessibility for all people.