Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
Written by Philippa Burne, UK, March 2012
RECOMMENDATION Keywords:
Cultural Experience,
Tip - Dos & Don'ts,
Tip - General Travel,
Museum
Comment from Philippa Burne
Sometimes just as interesting as a museum’s collection is the story of the collector behind it. Museu Calouste Gulbenkian is the legacy of Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, a Turkish oil mogul and art collector who traveled widely and lived in Constantinople (Istanbul), Paris, London, Lisbon and the south of France where he is buried. But it is to Lisbon that he left his art collection with a foundation to house it and develop it. Gulbenkian’s collection totals over 6,000 pieces including items from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, Islamic art, European painting and sculpture. He called them his ‘children.’ He was famous for buying pieces from the Hermitage collection in Saint Petersburg after the Russian Revolution. Much of the collection was housed at his home in Paris and currently at the Lisbon gallery there is an exhibition of this house, Memory of the Place, on until April 7 2012.
Editor’s Note: This recommendation was taken from our Portugal Things to Do blog. Visit the original post to continue reading the full post and to learn more about things to do in Portugal.
Photo courtesy of Sheila Thompson via Flickr.
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