Gulbenkian Museums

Sunday, my last day in Lisbon, I got lucky.

Oddly enough, despite having been to Lisbon twice, I have not yet purchased the Lonely Planet Guide to Portugal—so when it comes to leisure activities in Lisbon, I am exceptionally clueless. I have only my friends and my gay guide to the planet to help me.

After rambling about my trip to Armenia (a subject I cannot seem to shut-up about seven months later), two different people mentioned the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian—a foundation for the Portuguese people set up by an Armenian who lived in Portugal. Evidently, at his death he was filthy rich.

With his money, two museums have been established and, as they are a short walk from my hotel, I wandered over there in the morning to check out the Modern Art Museum—as classical art really isn’t my cuppa, I had decided to skip the other half of the museum.

After wandering through a vertigo-inspiring tower of books, I found myself at the admissions desk—to which I read the sign carefully—getting to the line about “free on Sundays.”

I decided to visit both museums, and in the process, got lucky twice.

In the Modern Art Museum, Sunday was the last day of an installation by a Portuguese artist—with room sized works that were fascinating to wander around. At the classical art museum, Sunday was the last day of a special exhibit dedicated to Cartier and his jewelry design. I’ve never known much about Cartier before, but after a trip through the exhibit, I found his life story interesting and some of his designs enchanting. I decided that if I could, I would take home this nice desk clock that was done in an Egyptian motif. Unfortunately the plastic display case, security guards, other visitors, plus the police officer outside the exhibit forced a quick reconsideration of my impulsive want.