It is located on Rua das Janelas Verdes, City of Lisbon (Capital of Portugal), Central Portugal.
The National Museum of Ancient Art is the most important art museum from the 12th to 19th centuries in Portugal, housing the most relevant public collection of ancient art in the country.
Its collections of around 40,000 pieces include European painting, sculpture, drawing and decorative arts, as well as collections of Asian (India, China, Japan) and African art (Afro-Portuguese ivories) representing the relationships that were established between Europe and the East following the voyages of discovery that began in the 15th century and Portugal was a pioneering nation.
The museum is located in a late 17th century palace built by D. Francisco de Távora, first count of Alvor.
The Palace is known as Palácio de Alvor-Pombal because in 1759, after the Távoras Process, the building was purchased at auction by Paulo de Carvalho e Mendonça, brother of Marquês de Pombal who, upon the former's death, became the owner of the palace.
In 1879 the palace was rented, later acquired by the Portuguese State to install the National Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology, officially opened on May 11, 1884.
The palace adjoined to the west the Convent of Santo Alberto, the first monastery of discalced Carmelite nuns in Lisbon, whose patron was Santo Alberto, for which it was also known as Convento das Albertas.
In 1890, with the death of the last nun, the state took possession of the Convent of Santo Alberto, handing over its guardianship to the museum in 1891 as at that time the need to increase its physical space was already recognized.
The Museum contains the largest collection of Portuguese painting, and from other European schools, with great emphasis on works dealing with religious subjects, which is due to the fact that the religious class was the main consumer of art in Portugal until the 19th century.
The space has many pieces of sculpture, goldsmithing: the Custódia de Belém and the Custódia da Bemposta, ceramics and other applied arts from the Middle Ages to the first half of the 19th century.
The theme of discoveries is always present, illustrating the links established between Portugal and Brazil, Africa, India, China and Japan.
The collection is made up of around 2200 paintings of national and European origin, 3200 pieces of Portuguese, French and other European goldsmithing and jewelery from the 12th to the 19th century.
When it comes to furniture made up of 1,700 pieces where you can find Portuguese, European and Oriental pieces.
The ceramic collection includes 7,500 pieces in faience and porcelain made in Portuguese, European and Oriental production, and textiles with 4,500 pieces which, due to their material characteristics, are displayed in rotation.
The São Vicente de Fora Panels, attributed to Nuno Gonçalves (1467-1470), the museum's best-known and most charismatic work, represent Portuguese society in the 15th century in six panels, making it a valuable historical and social document.
Later works include a portrait of the young D. Sebastião, Cristóvão de Morais and paintings by the neoclassical artist Domingos António de Sequeira.
The sculpture collection includes many images of Christ, the Virgin and Saints in stone and polychrome wood, images from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The beautiful collection of ecclesiastical treasures includes the golden cross of King D. Sancho I, the custodian of Santa Maria de Belém and the reliquary of Madre de Deus from the 16th century.
In Portuguese painting, the following stand out: Gregório Lopes (1490-1550): Martyrdom of S. Sebastião, Cristóvão de Morais with the portrait of King D. Sebastião (1571-74), Coronation of the Virgin by Domingos António de Sequeira, and Leda and the Swan (1798) by Vieira Portuense.
In European painting: Hieronymus Bosch: Hieronymus Bosch: The Temptations of Saint Anthony (1495 - 1500), Rafael Sanzio: Miracle of Saint Eusebius of Cremona (1503-1503) and Albrecht Dürer: Saint Jerome (1521).
In sculpture: Saint Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read by Joaquim Machado de Castro (1731-1822), St. Leonard by Andrea della Robbia (Florence, 1435-1525) and Girolamo della Robbia (Florence, 1488 - Paris, 1566).
In goldsmithing: central table by Thomas Germain (active 1720-1748) and François-Thomas Germain (active 1748-1791), cross of Dom Sancho I, reliquary and pax and the Belém Monastery made in gold (attributed to the Portuguese goldsmith and playwright Gil Vicente).
In furniture, the following stand out: oratory and chest of drawers, central table, a cabinet on a stand, in textiles, a carpet with trees and animals, a tapestry of the Baptism of Christ, a tapestry showing Hercules' fight with the centaurs, a tapestry depicting the painting together with a tapestry entitled Sculpture.
Ceramics include: tile panel, vase (spout and handle with dragon head and Renaissance decoration with Moorish adornments) and basin (inspired by faience and displaying Renaissance decoration and the figure of Saint John the Evangelist).
The art of the Portuguese discoveries: incomplete salina (a notable and rare example of the pieces that arrived in Lisbon in the 15th and 16th centuries from the west coast of Africa), front cabinet (covered with thin, finely carved and perforated ivory plaques displaying various scenes of Portuguese daily life in this part of the world, a golden background between deities and fantastic animals), oratory-reliquary (the decorative repertoire of the pieces clearly reveals oriental craftsmanship of the highest quality, typically Indian).
Its collections of around 40,000 pieces include European painting, sculpture, drawing and decorative arts, as well as collections of Asian (India, China, Japan) and African art (Afro-Portuguese ivories) representing the relationships that were established between Europe and the East following the voyages of discovery that began in the 15th century and Portugal was a pioneering nation.
The museum is located in a late 17th century palace built by D. Francisco de Távora, first count of Alvor.
The Palace is known as Palácio de Alvor-Pombal because in 1759, after the Távoras Process, the building was purchased at auction by Paulo de Carvalho e Mendonça, brother of Marquês de Pombal who, upon the former's death, became the owner of the palace.
In 1879 the palace was rented, later acquired by the Portuguese State to install the National Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology, officially opened on May 11, 1884.
The palace adjoined to the west the Convent of Santo Alberto, the first monastery of discalced Carmelite nuns in Lisbon, whose patron was Santo Alberto, for which it was also known as Convento das Albertas.
In 1890, with the death of the last nun, the state took possession of the Convent of Santo Alberto, handing over its guardianship to the museum in 1891 as at that time the need to increase its physical space was already recognized.
The Museum contains the largest collection of Portuguese painting, and from other European schools, with great emphasis on works dealing with religious subjects, which is due to the fact that the religious class was the main consumer of art in Portugal until the 19th century.
The space has many pieces of sculpture, goldsmithing: the Custódia de Belém and the Custódia da Bemposta, ceramics and other applied arts from the Middle Ages to the first half of the 19th century.
The theme of discoveries is always present, illustrating the links established between Portugal and Brazil, Africa, India, China and Japan.
The collection is made up of around 2200 paintings of national and European origin, 3200 pieces of Portuguese, French and other European goldsmithing and jewelery from the 12th to the 19th century.
When it comes to furniture made up of 1,700 pieces where you can find Portuguese, European and Oriental pieces.
The ceramic collection includes 7,500 pieces in faience and porcelain made in Portuguese, European and Oriental production, and textiles with 4,500 pieces which, due to their material characteristics, are displayed in rotation.
The São Vicente de Fora Panels, attributed to Nuno Gonçalves (1467-1470), the museum's best-known and most charismatic work, represent Portuguese society in the 15th century in six panels, making it a valuable historical and social document.
Later works include a portrait of the young D. Sebastião, Cristóvão de Morais and paintings by the neoclassical artist Domingos António de Sequeira.
The sculpture collection includes many images of Christ, the Virgin and Saints in stone and polychrome wood, images from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The beautiful collection of ecclesiastical treasures includes the golden cross of King D. Sancho I, the custodian of Santa Maria de Belém and the reliquary of Madre de Deus from the 16th century.
In Portuguese painting, the following stand out: Gregório Lopes (1490-1550): Martyrdom of S. Sebastião, Cristóvão de Morais with the portrait of King D. Sebastião (1571-74), Coronation of the Virgin by Domingos António de Sequeira, and Leda and the Swan (1798) by Vieira Portuense.
In European painting: Hieronymus Bosch: Hieronymus Bosch: The Temptations of Saint Anthony (1495 - 1500), Rafael Sanzio: Miracle of Saint Eusebius of Cremona (1503-1503) and Albrecht Dürer: Saint Jerome (1521).
In sculpture: Saint Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read by Joaquim Machado de Castro (1731-1822), St. Leonard by Andrea della Robbia (Florence, 1435-1525) and Girolamo della Robbia (Florence, 1488 - Paris, 1566).
In goldsmithing: central table by Thomas Germain (active 1720-1748) and François-Thomas Germain (active 1748-1791), cross of Dom Sancho I, reliquary and pax and the Belém Monastery made in gold (attributed to the Portuguese goldsmith and playwright Gil Vicente).
In furniture, the following stand out: oratory and chest of drawers, central table, a cabinet on a stand, in textiles, a carpet with trees and animals, a tapestry of the Baptism of Christ, a tapestry showing Hercules' fight with the centaurs, a tapestry depicting the painting together with a tapestry entitled Sculpture.
Ceramics include: tile panel, vase (spout and handle with dragon head and Renaissance decoration with Moorish adornments) and basin (inspired by faience and displaying Renaissance decoration and the figure of Saint John the Evangelist).
The art of the Portuguese discoveries: incomplete salina (a notable and rare example of the pieces that arrived in Lisbon in the 15th and 16th centuries from the west coast of Africa), front cabinet (covered with thin, finely carved and perforated ivory plaques displaying various scenes of Portuguese daily life in this part of the world, a golden background between deities and fantastic animals), oratory-reliquary (the decorative repertoire of the pieces clearly reveals oriental craftsmanship of the highest quality, typically Indian).
