The majority of tourists are surprised to learn that in the capital of Portugal, Lisbon has a museum of the East. But if you remember how many travelers were in this country, how many discoveries and researches it has been made, how many colonizers left from here - everything falls into place.
And the museum offers the corresponding one: half of its permanent exposition is devoted to the Portuguese stay in Asia . This young museum - it was opened only in 2008 ., but its funds are already impressive (they started collecting them long before the opening of the museum), in part because of the abundance of relevant items in the country, in part because of the received museum in the rock of a huge collection of a private museum . Collected in such a semi-casual way, the collection turned out to be big and interesting, in it the mass of everything, both expected and unusual .
Exposition
The permanent exposition of the museum consists of two parts. The first part reflects the Portuguese presence in Asia - discoveries, travel, colonization and a huge number of various objects from medieval Asia: books, paintings, ornaments, furniture and much more. A special pride of this exposition is a collection of Chinese and Japanese screens of the 17th and 18th centuries and a collection of porcelain.
The second part of the permanent exhibition is the "Kwok On Collection", donated by the Kwok On Museum in Paris. In this collection, special attention was paid to the quality and high complexity of the performance of a particular exhibition facility, and now all this can be seen. In this part of the collection there are about 13 thousand exhibits
"The Kwok On Collection" was considered one of the best in Europe, and in combination with the museum's own collection it turned out to be an interesting exposition. There are a lot of very rare or unique, unusual or complex items, and many of them are in very good condition. Such a number of complex exhibits with a high level of safety is a great rarity.
The museum is also noteworthy that it hosts magnificent temporary exhibitions. The largest European museums, private collections, museums in Asia, prefabricated expositions (for which exhibits from different sources are collected) - everything is there. Often exhibit things that have been preserved very little - Japanese books or medieval Chinese silks, for example.
Building
Separately it is necessary to say about the building - this is an industrial building rebuilt under the museum. The external form was preserved, it turned out to be interesting and unusual.
Practical information
Address: Lisboa, Doca de Alcantara (Norte), Avenida Brasilia, Museu do Oriente.
Working time: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00 on Friday from 10:00 to 22:00 (this day free admission from 18:00 to 22:00)
Ticket price: 6 EUR for adults, 2 EUR for children , a family ticket (2 adults and up to 3 children) - 14 EUR (in the autumn of 2014).