Art Trails: Lisbon

The Portugese capital, Lisbon, is home to a wide and eclectic range of art museums. Many have sprung up since it was named European City of Culture in 1994.

Here are just two:
MAAT, on the banks of the Rio Tejo, overlooking the Ponte Abril de 25 showcases art, architecture and technology. Part of the museum is housed in an old power station which celebrates the technology of coal power . This is also a great place to take in the view of the Rio Tejo and the Ponte de April 25 beyond.

And the Gubenkian Museum, named after the Armenian oil tycoon who died in 1955, has a unique collection particularly of antiquities and Ottoman and Persian ceramics.

Gubenkian, known as Mr 5per cent, was one of the richest men of the 20th century. He went on to amass one of the world’s biggest personal art collections.  He made his fortune brokering oil deals between Western oil companies and Middle Eastern governments, particularly in Iraq.

He was educated in Britain and became a citizen but after moving to Paris he was declared an enemy alien by the British when he moved to the south of France under the Vichy  regime in World War 2.

Gubenkian never forgave the British. He moved his collection to Lisbon in 1942 and lived there until his death.