Is it a gallery? Is it a shop? Is it a museum? Is it an adventure park?

It’s all this together! A place that recently opened in Gaia Pier promises a unique experience in the wonderful world of Portuguese canned fish. A stage to shine and tell the History of Portugal in a magical and vibrant environment, full of colour, music, light and movement, on two floors of pure emotion.

With musicians from the philharmonic band doing the honours of the house and dressed appropriately, this place has canned fish for all tastes, in about 30 different varieties. From sardines to codfish or octopus (Christmas is coming, a tradition that can be easily fulfilled by canned fish) or more unusual fish such as sea bass, meagre, or whelks (delicious to taste straight from the can), the fish is presented in cans with years, cans that invoke the Portuguese Discoveries, comic boxes and boxes that celebrate the Popular Saints. Here, reality takes the form of fantasy, but it’s a very serious business.

On the upper floor, a canning videomaping makes way for an incursion into a circus tent led by two tile panels by the artist Sara Maia representing a canning factory. On the walls, six women holding the flags of all the countries in the world are flanked by two fishermen bringing Portuguese gold from the sea. The sardine is precisely the treasure that six safes keep, with doors slightly open, to be discovered and explored.

From the sea to the can and from the can to the world

Portuguese canned fish have long been known for their unbeatable quality, much appreciated and recognized abroad. With over 150 years of history, the Portuguese canning industry has experienced all kinds of conditions: from a shy entrepreneurial, it experienced a prosperous period during the World Wars (it became the largest producer in the world), falling into a decline as a result of a decrease in the value of canned fish. There were once 400 factories. Today there are 21.

The Fantastic World of Portuguese Can rescues the sector from the grayness in which it was immersed, involving it in a sensorial, happy and fun experience. It is the passport that the Portuguese canned fish stamp to conquer the world, leaving behind the fear to aspire to the place that is within its reach: to be a world reference of canned fish, synonymous of prestige and distinction.

This new shop in Gaia Pier opens every day, from 10am to 10pm and invites visitors to an experience that stimulates the senses, where Portuguese canned fish are hosts in the art of creating sensations. Immerse yourself in this canning adventure here.

About Comur

Inaugurated in 1942 in Murtosa, Aveiro, Comur is today one of the major flagships of the Portuguese canned fish industry. Initially dedicated to exporting eels, it currently produces around thirty varieties of canned fish, meticulously crafted by the experienced hands of over a hundred women who transform the flavours of the sea into delicious delicacies using artisanal production methods. With 22 shops in Portugal, Comur is a brand of The Value of Time Group which is committed to differentiation and a value-added experience that allows it to tell its story and the History of Portugal through Portuguese canning industry.