Page 347 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

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artists exhibited include
The Earthquake of 1755
Ghirlandaio, Rubens, Guardi,
The first tremor of the devastating earthquake Gainsborough, Turner, Manet,
was felt at 9:30am on November 1. It was and Renoir. The collection also
followed by a second, far more violent, includes sculpture, jewelry,
shock a few minutes later, which reduced textiles, manuscripts, porcelain,
over half the city to rubble. A third shock and a variety of decorative arts.
was followed by fires, which quickly
spread. An hour later, huge waves came
rolling in from the Tagus, flooding the q Museu Nacional
lower part of the city. Most of Portugal de Arte Antiga
suffered damage, but Lisbon was the
worst affected: an estimated 15,000 Rua das Janelas Verdes. Tel 213-912
people died in the city. Sebastião José 800. @ 713, 714, 727. v 15, 18.
de Carvalho e Melo, chief minister to King Open Tue–Sun. Closed Jan 1, Easter
José I, later Marquês de Pombal, restored Marquês de Pombal Sun, May 1, Dec 24 & 25. & 7 -
order and began a progressive town- 0 ∑ museudearteantiga.pt
planning scheme. His cool efficiency
gained him almost total political control. The national art collection,
housed in a 17th-century
0 Museu Calouste palace, was inaugurated in
1770. In 1940 a modern annex
Gulbenkian (including the main facade)
was added. This was built on
Avda de Berna 45. Tel 217-823 000.
q Praça de Espanha, São Sebastião. the site of a monastery, largely
@ 716, 756, 726, 746. Open Tue–Sun. destroyed in the 1755
Closed Mon, Jan 1, Easter Sun, May 1, earthquake. Its only surviving
Dec 25. & (free Sun). 0 - 7 feature, the chapel, has been
∑ museu.gulbenkian.pt integrated into the museum.
The first floor houses
Thanks to wealthy Armenian oil 14th–19th-century European
magnate Calouste Gulbenkian, paintings, decorative arts, and
Portugal owns one of the finest furniture. Artists exhibited
personal art collections include Piero della Francesca,
assembled during the 20th Hans Holbein the Elder, Raphael,
century. Gulbenkian moved to Lucas Cranach the Elder,
Portugal in World War II, because Hieronymus Bosch, and Albrecht
of the country’s neutral status. Dürer. Oriental and African art,
This museum was inaugurated Chinese ceramics, and the gold,
in 1969, as part of the charitable silver, and jewelry collection are
insti tution bequeathed to the on the second floor. The top
nation. The building was floor houses Portuguese works.
The Elevador de Santa Justa, which links the devised to create the best The pride of the Portuguese
Baixa to the Chiado district layout for the founder’s varied collection is the Panels of St.
collection: the exhibits span Vincent (c.1467–70), attributed
affluent Lisboetas shop. On the 4,000 years, from ancient to Nuno Gonçalves. It is an
main street, Rua Garrett, the Café Egypt and China, through altarpiece painted on six
Brasileira – once frequented an extensive collection panels, featuring portraits
by writers and intellectuals – of Islamic ceramics of a wide range of
remains popular. The Chiado and carpets, to Art contemporary figures,
was devastated by fire in 1988, but Nouveau. Gulbenkian from beggars and
has been painstakingly renovated. was a friend of René sailors to bishops and
The best way to reach the Lalique, the great princes, including Henry
Bairro Alto from the Baixa is glassware and jewelry the Navigator and the
via the Chiado district and the maker, and one future João II, all paying
Elevador de Santa Justa, a room is filled homage to the saint.
Neo-Gothic elevator dating with his work. Another fascinating
from 1901–2. Tourist attractions Highlights of aspect of the Age
include the richly decorated the European art of Exploration is
São Roque church, the ruined collection include recorded in the
Igreja do Carmo, once the Van der Weyden’s 16th-century
largest church in Lisbon, and St. Catherine and Japanese screens,
the Museu Nacional de Arte Rembrandt’s which show
Contemporânea (MNAC), which Portrait of an Old Statue of the founder at the Portuguese traders
houses art from 1850–1950. Man. Other major Gulbenkian Museum arriving in Japan.

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