On the advice of one of my clients, we visited the Gulbenkian Museum today during our tour of Lisbon. Clearly one of the most outstanding museums I have ever visited, I cannot recommend this highly enough.Calouste Gulbenkian made his fortune in the petroleum industry, playing a critical role in forming some of the world's most prominent oil companies. Retaining a 5% interest in the companies he put together (he was known as Mr. 5%), he became an incredibly wealthy individual. Spending a lifetime assembling an art collection of over 6,000 pieces, Gulbenkian bequeathed his art to his nation, Portugal, upon his death. One thousand works are in the museum's permanent collection.
While the scope of the Gulbenkian's art collection rivals that of the Louvre, the scale is ever so much more manageable. You can get an overview of the entire museum in just an hour, although longer visits would be well worthwhile. Instead of glazing over the thousands of relics from Egypt you might find at the Louvre or British Museum, visitors can view a few dozen exquisite pieces on display. Persian carpets, Mesopotamian and Greco-Roman artifacts, far eastern art pieces, illuminated manuscripts, Lalique creations, and a representative collection of 15th - 19th century western paintings make for a stunning experience.
Gulbenkian Museum (search here on Google)
copyright (c) 2009 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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