More than a century of caring for ‘ailing’ dolls
IN the heart of old Lisbon, there is a “hospital” that treats patients who are small and fragile, often mangled and battered, and sometimes more than 100 years old.
This rare facility mends the cracked head, broken limb or missing eye of many a child’s favourite toy – their doll.
The loving care given at Lisbon’s doll hospital had been going on for five generations, hospital owner Manuela Cutileiro, 72, said.
“We have clients from all over the world and all ages.
“Museums ask us to restore pieces, also private collectors, but the vast majority of our clients are individuals – people who are sentimentally attached to their dolls.”
The dolls all have a patient file and are painstakingly restored by the skilled hands of three women “surgeons”.
They give the dolls a new body part or hair, chosen from drawers full of pieces of dolls, a macabre collection of heads, limbs and eyes.
The establishment, known as Hospital de Bonecas, was founded in 1830 and is described in the tourist guides to Portugal’s capital as one of the oldest doll hospitals still in operation.
“They say we are among the last in the world to do this work,” Cutileiro, a former schoolteacher, said. But she shrugs off accolades. “We do our work in our little corner, without worrying about records or statistics.”
About 4 000 dolls can be found inside the building.
Its origins go back to the 19th century when “a little old lady”, Carlota da Silva Luz, would make rag dolls, sitting in front of her herb shop in Praca da Figueira, where there was a large outdoor market.
Over time, the aromatic and medicinal herbs gave way to shelves of dolls, which today fill a window display at the entrance to the hospital, with a museum dedicated to them on the first floor.