Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

The first thing you need to do after entering the museum is install their app. Free audio guide and details on a huge number of the artworks on display. In some instances, it's just a repeat of the caption but some of them had different and more extensive information. I was here for about two hours to see the type of art I enjoy.

Funded mainly by Calouste Gulbenkian (1869-1955) who was a British-Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He is credited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil. By the end of his life, he had amassed one of the finest private collections of works of art and was among the richest persons on earth.

The majority of Gulbenkian's artwork is on display here, although his collection may be found in numerous museums across the world. According to his bequest, the museum was established to house and exhibit his collection, which is now owned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. A selection of about 1000 of the museum's about 6,000 artifacts are on permanent exhibit.

It is a varied collection. I enjoyed looking at an alabaster cup that dates back to 2600 BC, a bronze solar barque from 380 BC, 17th century Persian carpets, a tile panel from 1522 and Chinese vases from the 16th century and French 18th century. Paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Nattier, Vincent, Degas, Renoir, Monet, Sargent and more.

This is one of the greatest varied collections I've seen. I enjoyed it more than I expected I would.

[Review 19005 overall - 203 in Portugal - 2529 of 2022.]

Disappointed that this private art collection one of the most notorious in the world was comes today. It appears that in billionaire oil heir collected art from around the world having over 6,000 pieces with over 1,000 on display. The Lalique room is world renowned. The gift shop & gardens were lovely.

This listing has the hours for the Foundation, not for the Museum. The Museum is closed on Tuesdays. For real hours, check the museum website.

The Foundacao Calouste Gulbenkian is "probably" Lisbon's major art museum. There is no other museum with a name like "Museo de Arte de Lisboa," so this must be it.

I've known about the Gulbenkian for years and, in all the times I've been to Lisbon, I've only been there once. I'm glad I went. The only other museum I've been to is the National Coach Museum (incredibly detailed horse-drawn carriages) and that was impressive, but that was a long time ago. Lisbon has no shortage of museums, though some are more niche-like in their focus.

The reason many people may not see the Gulbenkian is because most of Lisbon's touristic highlights are in its natural amphitheater-like bowl near the harborfront square and the hills immediately flanking it. The Gulbenkian is above the the city's "amphitheater" and a bit north of the famed Marques de Pombal rotunda.

Calouste Gulbenkian was a successful Armenian business magnate who bestowed his art collection upon the city of Lisbon. The art includes that of some of the European masters and, as such, is primarily European, Middle Eastern, and Asian in its focus. Mostly, the works are paintings, sculptures, and ceramics. However, they are rounded out by displays of apparel and furnishings, the latter of which are especially ornate. You would wonder why anyone would even want to use them or sit on them. As such, they're better off here ... in this museum.

Your Metro exit is Praca de Espanha, which is near the city's bullring and near the bus queuing area that can take folks to the south shore and the lengthy strand of beaches by crossing the Ponte 25 de Abril. With such an efficient Metro system, there is no reason not to go slightly north in the city, away from the more touristic highlights, and see the Gulbenkian Museum. There are also gardens, an indoor-outdoor cafe', and, of course, special exhibits which are often extra cost venues.

I was going to say the Gulbenkian is a 4 star situation. However, when one considers that there's a free day each week, that the main admission ticket is reasonably priced to begin with, and that the Lisboa Card brings the admission down to about 5 Euros, the Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian museum is as good as it gets.

This is one of the great museums of the world. We knew we would like it, but we actually loved it.

First, let me suggest you get a taxi up to the museum- you'll need your feet to see this place and to walk the impressive grounds.

We began in the ancient art building, Roman and Greek and Egyptian, and then we passed to the Islamic works. After that came European art- of all epochs. It's truly amazing! Don't miss the room of silver and gold plate! It's fantastic. Also, the Lalique room is out of this world. And there are two gorgeous Burne-Jones paintings- the Mirror of Venus and the Bath of Venus. You will also fine some great Manet's, Rembrandt's and other works in this museum. It's really amazing.

We bought the 10 dollar tickets which allowed us access to the foundation works as well as the modern art wing- which we went to, but did not like as much. But then, we're not modern art people.

The grounds, though, are lovely- and there are ducks and turtles! Very cute ducks and turtles. The grounds have many shady spots to sit. And there are cafes in each of the buildings- they must be good- the queues were long! The gift shops were also lovely.

Calouste Gulbenkian (Mr. 5%) was a fascinating man. If you are going here, read up about him. I also found the book to the museums key works on Amazon for quite a low price- so I could familiarize myself with the collection (and the book will make quite a nice souvenir as well).

Bathrooms are large and clean. Staff are multilingual and very kind and helpful. Pictures are allowed- but no flash!

Awesome museum. In a fabulous park.
Free on Sunday after 2.
Plan on at least 3 hours there.

This museum deserves much more time and energy than we had for it. It is housed in three buildings in a park-like setting. Antonio, who drove us from the airport to our flat in Baixa and then to the Corinthia Hotel, pointed it out on one of the drives. The Gulbenkian is named for a British businessman of Armenian origin, Calouste Gulbenkian, who settled in Lisbon, collected art and antiquities and bequeathed his collection to Lisbon upon his death in 1955. The taxi let us off in front of the building that houses the temporary exhibits. The building to the right houses antiquities and European art and the third building holds modern art. You can pay admission to entire museum or to the permanent collection and we decided to do the latter since we knew we wouldn't have the energy for the entire museum. Seniors are half price, so it was €10 for both of us, more than reasonable.

We walked to the second building and paid. We started in a room housing Egyptian antiquities. They were interesting, but Alan, who moves faster than I do through museums, came back and told me I would love the next two rooms and I did. They were full of Persian carpets and embroidered wall hangings of silk and velvet, Turkish ceramics and textiles and antiquities from Syria and other parts of the Middle East. The collection was imaginative and expansive and I love the generosity of his bequest to the city. The European art was interesting, a lot of religious art by painters I didn't recognize and then more secular art by Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyke and others. It's mind boggling that one man could have collected all this beauty. This building contained the cafeteria and bathrooms on the lower level and the requisite gift shop. There are stairs as well as an elevator for those who need it. We ran out of energy before we could take in the modern art collection, but we enjoyed what we saw.

This is a beautiful museum in the middle of a park. Find it first, which can be a challenge, and enjoy it. The grounds are beautiful and the art collection is very nice. Also, don't rent the audio tour because it was not very helpful. Simply rely on the map issued during admission to guide yourself around. Also, don't miss out on the outdoor cafe which serves above average food in a great setting. In addition, if you need to do some shopping before or after your visit, there is a Corte Inglese mall a short walk away. I am a huge fan of the Spanish Corte Inglese malls because they are a foodie paradise. This is were I sought out very good Portuguese products to bring back home. Just to name a few, olive oil, vinegar, port, cherry liquor Ginga, wine and many other hard to find items back home in Chicago. I definitely was not disappointed by my purchases. But, I was disappointed when they ran out, like Ginga, which I cannot find back home or on the internet. Portuguese products are very underrated and not widely available.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. We spent a wonderful time there, roaming from place to place, from Asia to Manet, from Persia to Burne-Jones and Eropean furniture to Lalique. More explanation would be interesting but the sheer quality of the selected objects and their diversity was enough to fill me with a wonder I only felt in NY's Met - the human scale allowing to span the whole place in two densely packed hours. A must-see.

Nice collection spanning 5,000 years with some great artists. Turkish, Roman, Egyptian to Renoir and Rodin.