Another of Lisbon’s cultural focal points lies around the Praca de Espanha, to the north of Baxia, and centres on the world-famous Museu Gulbenkian. The museum stands in a large, grassy park dotted with sculptures and ponds. The museum displays the vast, eclectic collection – some 6000 works of art ranging from Mesopotamian sculptures to French impressionism paintings – of Armenian Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian.

Born and raised in Turkey, Gulbenkian began collecting while in his teens and was systematically purchasing high-quality art by the turn of the twentieth century. As his oil-magnate fortunes flourished, Gulbenkian astutely bought, exchanged, and donated works of art, while placing some on loan in museums in London, Paris, and Washington.

The superbly designed, low-lying building was brilliantly conceived to offer a constant interaction between the art displayed inside and nature; the art is presented in a series of rooms and halls whose large windows overlook two courtyards or the surrounding grounds. The layout groups the art according to chronology, geographic origin, and medium.