Gulbenkian was an Armenian oil magnate who died in 1955 having put together one of the world's finest private art collections. The collection is now housed in a modern centre where the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation sponsors a host of cultural and performing arts projects, and has a rotating exhibition of works by Portuguese and foreign artists. The Gulbenkian collection itself covers Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, Islamic ceramics and textiles, Syrian treasures, Chinese ceramics, Japanese prints and lacquerware and European medieval illuminated manuscripts. The collection is so vast and varied as to be breathtaking. Among the paintings are two Rembrandts, a Rubens and a Renoir.

Address: Avenue de Berna 45A

Website: www.museu.gulbenkian.pt

Telephone: 21 782 3000

Transport: Bus 16, 726, 56, 718, 742 or metro to S. Sebastião or Praça de Espanha stations

Opening times: Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5.45pm

Admission: €4, concessions available.