Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum was founded in conformity with Calouste Gulbenkian's (1869-1955) last will and testament. He was a British businessman and philanthropist of Armenian origin. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is credited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil.

The permanent exhibition and galleries are distributed chronologically and in geographical order to create two independent circuits within the overall tour.

The first circuit highlights Greco-Roman art from classical antiquity and art from the ancient Near East including Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Persian and Armenian art as well as Persian art from the Islamic period.

The second circuit includes European art, with sections dedicated to the art of the book, sculpture, painting and the decorative arts, particularly 18th century French art and the work of René Lalique. In this circuit, a wide-ranging number of pieces reflect various European artistic trends from the beginning of the 11th century to the mid-20th century.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Francesca Bouaoun (2 months ago)
The collection here is almost overwhelming - Ancient Egypt to Rembrandt. And a stunning selection of Lalique jewellery. Had a bit of trouble when we first arrived - we bought our tickets in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation building and weren't told there was a tour that morning (which is a little extra) - so we had to do a bit of running back and forth between there and the Founder's Collection building to sort it out. But the tour of the Founder's Collection was excellent. A friendly tour guide showed us some highlights of the collection and I would absolutely recommend it for extra insight. The gardens around the museum are also a lovely green space in the city. The well-priced cafe (with plenty of selection) has an outdoor patio that's a great place to enjoy the surroundings.

Doug Taff (3 months ago)
It's a beautiful museum however getting from the modern art exhibit to the permanent art exhibition, which is in a separate building, is ridiculously difficult due to lack of signage in the expansive grounds. we ended up entering through a cafeteria as that was the only available entrance on the day we went. I'm sure there's a better way but the trustees have failed in making it simple.

Subrata Chakrabarti (4 months ago)
A very interesting museum with the exhibit spread over a couple of buildings in a large walled campus. The modern art is in a smaller building. The Gulbenkian collection is in the larger building. The museum contain the vast collection amassed by the Gulbenkian foundation. The museum has art collection from many countries - Africa, Iran, India and China to mention a few. I was impressed with the display of the carpets. There is a nice cafe on the ground floor. There is also a very nice gift shop on the second floor. You can easily spend the whole day here in this museum.

Rob Jones (4 months ago)
The gardens are lovely, and popular with both locals and visitors. They are of modern design with large concrete platform slabs for paths, hidden recessed spaces, and mature trees and shrubs that give shade and a haven for wildlife. Alongside mallard, there is a pair of Egyptian geese and on our last visit in Jan 2018 we saw a night heron. There are at least three cafés, all good. We didn't visit the main museum this time, but did enjoy the temporary exhibition of 19C French sculpture.

Kate Fulop (4 months ago)
Nice collection. The museums are located in a beautifully designed garden. The cafes and many of the galleries had lovely tranquil spaces that are designed to allow you to just sit and enjoy the experience. It would be the perfect place to spend the day if it was raining

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Porta Nigra

The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name Porta Nigra originated in the Middle Ages due to the darkened colour of its stone; the original Roman name has not been preserved. Locals commonly refer to the Porta Nigra simply as Porta.

The Porta Nigra was built in grey sandstone between 186 and 200 AD. The original gate consisted of two four-storied towers, projecting as near semicircles on the outer side. A narrow courtyard separated the two gate openings on either side. For unknown reasons, however, the construction of the gate remained unfinished. For example, the stones at the northern (outer) side of the gate were never abraded, and the protruding stones would have made it impossible to install movable gates. Nonetheless, the gate was used for several centuries until the end of the Roman era in Trier.

In Roman times, the Porta Nigra was part of a system of four city gates, one of which stood at each side of the roughly rectangular Roman city. The Porta Nigra guarded the northern entry to the Roman city, while the Porta Alba (White Gate) was built in the east, the Porta Media (Middle Gate) in the south, and the Porta Inclyta (Famous Gate) in the west, next to the Roman bridge across the Moselle. The gates stood at the ends of the two main streets of the Roman Trier, one of which led north-south and the other east-west. Of these gates, only the Porta Nigra still exists today.

In the early Middle Ages the Roman city gates were no longer used for their original function and their stones were taken and reused for other buildings. Also iron and lead braces were broken out of the walls of the Porta Nigra for reuse. Traces of this destruction are still clearly visible on the north side of the gate.

After 1028, the Greek monk Simeon lived as a hermit in the ruins of the Porta Nigra. After his death (1035) and sanctification, the Simeonstift monastery was built next to the Porta Nigra to honor him. Saving it from further destruction, the Porta Nigra was transformed into a church: The inner court of the gate was roofed and intermediate ceilings were inserted. The two middle storeys of the former gate were converted into church naves: the upper storey being for the monks and the lower storey for the general public. The ground floor with the large gates was sealed, and a large outside staircase was constructed alongside the south side (the town side) of the gate, up to the lower storey of the church. A small staircase led further up to the upper storey. The church rooms were accessible through former windows of the western tower of the Porta Nigra that were enlarged to become entrance doors (still visible today). The top floor of the western tower was used as church tower, the eastern tower was leveled, and an apse added at its east side. An additional gate - the much smaller Simeon Gate - was built adjacent to the East side of the Porta Nigra and served as a city gate in medieval times.

In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the church in the Porta Nigra and the monastery beside it, along with the vast majority of Trier"s numerous churches and monasteries. On his visit to Trier in 1804, Napoleon ordered that the Porta Nigra be converted back to its Roman form. Only the apse was kept; but the eastern tower was not rebuilt to its original height. Local legend has it that Napoleon originally wanted to completely tear down the church, but locals convinced him that the church had actually been a Gaulish festival hall before being turned into a church. Another version of the story is that they told him about its Roman origins, persuading him to convert the gate back to its original form.

In 1986 the Porta Nigra was designated a World Heritage Site, along with other Roman monuments in Trier and its surroundings. The modern appearance of the Porta Nigra goes back almost unchanged to the reconstruction ordered by Napoleon. At the south side of the Porta Nigra, remains of Roman columns line the last 100 m of the street leading to the gate. Positioned where they had stood in Roman times, they give a slight impression of the aspect of the original Roman street that was lined with colonnades. The Porta Nigra, including the upper floors, is open to visitors.

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