About Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
The Museu Calouste Gulbenkian holds the personal art collection of Armenian-British oil magnate Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869–1955), who spent his life acquiring exceptional works across every major collecting category. His taste was extraordinary: he bought from the Hermitage when the Soviet government sold off tsarist treasures in the 1930s, and assembled one of the most internally balanced private collections ever formed.
The collection of approximately 6,000 works spans 4,000 years and many civilisations: ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman objects; Islamic art and manuscripts; Asian art (Chinese and Japanese); 14th–15th century Flemish and Italian painting; 17th-century Dutch and Flemish masters (Rembrandt, Rubens, Hals); 18th-century French decorative arts; and an unparalleled group of French Impressionist paintings (Renoir, Monet, Degas). The entire collection of jewellery by René Lalique — the greatest single holding of his work — is also here. The building, designed by Ruy Jervis d'Athouguia and opened in 1969, sits in a garden setting in central Lisbon.
Collections & Highlights
Frequently Asked Questions
A small ask before you go
You've just explored one of humanity's greatest collections of beauty. Art has the power to move us, inspire us, and change how we see the world. But millions of people will never see beauty like this — not because the art isn't there, but because they can't see at all.
Preventable blindness, caused by conditions like cataracts and trachoma, affects people of all ages across the world's poorest communities. A small gift — for the cost of a museum ticket — can provide a simple surgery to restore someone's sight and transform their life.