The Paper Museum has a permanent exhibition dedicated to the proto industrial and industrial production of paper, located in a former paper factory which was founded in 1822 and active until 1989.

The permanent exhibition displays the two most remarkable phases of the history of paper in Portugal: the production of paper in single separate sheets (1822 – 1916), with proto industrial characteristics, in the manufacturing context of the Lourença Device, and the industrial fabrication (1916 – 1989), in the manufacturing area of the Machine House, which integrates a continuous papermaking round machine. 

Lourença Device

This exhibition has two components. The first exhibit displays pieces and machines related to the process of industrial production, placed in situ according to the different phases of this process. The second exhibit includes pieces which came from different paper factories, not only from Santa Maria Lands but also from the main papermaking places in Portugal.

Machine house
 

Both production processes employ pinewood and iron equipment, like the rag scissors and, in both, the disintegration of the fiber sources (cotton rag/19th century, cotton and old paper rag/20th century), is made with the Hollander Beater, usually called cylinder, introduced in Santa Maria da Feira Municipality in the early years of 1800 by priest José Pinto de Almeida, from the New Device Factory, in Paços de Brandão.

The grinding mill is another important piece of technology, introduced in the paper industry of this region only at the end of the 19th century. The different manufacturing areas, like the Drying Loft House, for the drying process, and the Paperer House, for to the choice and package of the paper, are also exhibited here.

Drying Loft House	Paperer House