The Ethnographic Museum of the Lisbon Geographic Society is located in the Lisbon Geographical Society building at 100 Portas de Santo Antão Street. The museum houses a varied ethnographic collection from the former Portuguese colonies.

There are circumcision masks, musical instruments and spears from Guinea-Bissau. From Angola can be seen supports for headdresses and the original Standard erected by the Portuguese in 1482 to mark their sovereignty over the territory. Most of the pieces are found along the splendid Sala de Portugal , also used for conferences.

The Museum of the Geographical Society of Lisbon opened its doors to the public for the first time in 1884. Created with a colonial emphasis, it integrated the ethnographic component from the first moment. 
In 1892 the collections of the then  Colonial Museum of Lisbon , hitherto under the supervision of the Secretariat of State of the Navy and Overseas, were incorporated into the Museum that SGL had been developing since 1875.

Throughout its 140 years of existence the Museum has been enriching its collections, although the period between 1875 and 1900 should be highlighted as one of the most important. This was characterized by an acquisition policy, with diverse collection contexts: from missionaries, traders, explorers, military or even in the context of international exhibitions of the mid and late 1800s. Collections that significantly translate the Portuguese presence in areas as diverse as Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Guinea-Bissau, Timor and Macau.

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