Museu do Oriente

by Durant Imboden

In English, the name of Lisbon's Museu do Oriente means Oriental Museum or Museum of the Far East. Don't let the name deter you: This new museum, which opened in 2008, isn't your grandfather's static gallery of Chinese vases and Japanese paintings. Instead, it's a visually stunning and superbly presented view of Asian art and culture from a Portuguese perspective, drawing on Portugal's history of exploration, trade, Christian prosyletism, and cultural interaction in Asia from the 15th Century through modern times.

Museu do Oriente masks photo

ABOVE: Indonesian masks from a "Masks of Asia" exhibition at the Museu do Oriente, Lisbon. INSET BELOW: A model of Goa Cathedral.

The Museu do Oriente is operated by the Fundacão Oriente, which was founded in Macau in 1988. The museum is organized around two permanent exhibitions:

Portuguese Presence in Asia begins with exhibits from Macau (a Chinese territory once administered by Portugal), where you can view scale models, statues, Chinese folding screens, and other displays which--among other things--show Portugal's role in the "China Trade." As you move through the exhibits on the first floor, you'll also see displays from Goa, China, Japan, East Timor, and other Portuguese outposts or trading areas from the 1500-1900s.

Goa Cathedral model Gods of Asia explores religion and mythology through costumes, puppets, masks, statues, paintings, games, and other items from the Kwok On collection of more than 13,000 objects.

In addition, the Museu do Oriente has temporary exhibitions on various topics, such as the Masks of Asia exhibit that took place during my visit. (See photo at top of page.)

The museum's building and design:

The Museu do Oriente occupies a former Port of Lisbon warehouse that dates back to 1939. The six-story concrete structure was built to store bacalhau, or dried cod; nearly 70 years later, architects João Luís Carrilho da Graça and Rui Francisco renovated the building, cleverly turning its interior columns into frames for display cases and adding such features as an auditorium, a restaurant, a cafeteria, and a shop.

For visitor information, including opening hours and directions, see page 2. You'll find more pictures of the museum on page 3 of this article:

Next page: Visitor information

In this article:

Museu do Oriente - Introduction

Visitor information

More photos

Also see:

Lisbon, Portugal - Travel guide

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