Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

About the museum

The museum was created to house the collection assembled over more than fifty years by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, of Armenian origin, born in Üsküdar in the Ottoman Empire. After living in Cairo, London and Paris, the collector settled in Lisbon during the Second World War and died here in 1955. He left more than 6,000 pieces, from antiquity to the early 20th century, gathered according to personal taste and with the advice of the leading experts of his time.

The building housing the headquarters and museum of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian opened in 1969. It resulted from a restricted competition between three teams of architects, held between 1959 and 1960 and won by Ruy Jervis d'Athouguia, Pedro Cid and Alberto Pessoa. It was built on the former Parque de Santa Gertrudes and is surrounded by a garden designed by Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles and António Viana Barreto. It received the Valmor Prize in 1975 and was classified as a National Monument in 2010.

The galleries display about a thousand pieces in two circuits: one devoted to Eastern and classical art (Egypt, Greece and Rome, Mesopotamia, the Islamic world, Armenia and the Far East) and another to European art, which includes books, sculpture, painting and decorative arts, with highlights such as 18th-century French art and the jewellery and glass of René Lalique. The museum reopened in 2026, after about a year and a half of renovation works.

Highlights

• Collection of Greek coins and an Assyrian relief from the palace of Assurnasirpal
• Art of the Islamic world, Armenia and the Far East
• Paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Turner, Manet, Degas, Renoir and Monet
• French 18th-century furniture and goldsmith work
• René Lalique room with jewellery and glass
• Modernist building from 1969 with interior gardens

Permanent exhibition

• Coleção do Museu Calouste Gulbenkian – A route of about a thousand pieces, from ancient Egypt through the Islamic world, China and Japan to Europe.

Founded

1969

Operated by

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Director

António Filipe Pimentel

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Free admission on Sundays from 14:00. Under-30s enter free on Saturdays between 18:00 and 21:00 with the Cartão Gulbenkian (collected in person).

The museum ticket (€16) includes free admission to the collection of the Centro de Arte Moderna. The Cartão Gulbenkian is free and gives discounts of 50% to under-30s, 20% to over-65s and 10% to those aged 30 to 64; anyone who collects two points on different days within 60 days gets free admission for one year. Free admission also for members of ICOM, AICA and APOM and holders of a press card.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

All the Foundation's spaces and part of the garden are adapted for visitors with reduced mobility, with lifts, platform lifts, ramps and, in certain areas, tactile paving. Reception staff will assist anyone who needs it. In the car park, next to the lifts, there are reserved spaces.

Kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

The Foundation runs activities for families, children and schools; admission is free up to age 18.

Getting there & parking

The complex has entrances from Avenida de Berna, Rua Nicolau Bettencourt, Rua Marquês de Fronteira and Rua Marquês Sá da Bandeira. There are Gira shared-bicycle stations next to the Foundation.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Restaurant
• Museum shop
• Coat check
• Lockers

Museum café (open from 10:00 to 18:00 and, on Saturdays, until 21:00), restaurant “A Mesa do CAM” and the Casa do Jardim Gulbenkian. Museum shop. Free cloakroom and lockers on the lower floor, next to the café.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit