CUSTOM-MADE MUSEUM VISITS
For the art and history lovers amongst us, we suggest you start your cultural promenade here at the Hotel. With over 60 pieces, our considered selection of unique pieces ranks the Hotel as a true museum. Beginning at the entrance, and spilling through the inner areas of the Lobby, lounges, restaurants, corridors and even bedrooms, we present a sequence of significant works that make up one of the country’s most important collections of mid-century Portuguese art.
We can also arrange a private viewing of each of the following three specialist venues:
Fundação Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva
(Largo das Portas do Sol, 2 – Castelo)
The Palácio Azurara (Azurara Palace), located at the top of Lisbon’s ancient Alfama neighborhood, was bought in 1947 by the banker and art collector Ricardo do Espírito Santo. He restored it as an 18th century aristocratic home and decorated it with items from his private collection. In 1953, he donated the palace and collections to a private Foundation, which remains dedicated to this day to the study and protection of decorative arts and traditional crafts. Don’t miss the rare collections of gold and metalwork, tiles and carpets, as well as the shop selling traditionally crafted reproductions created in the Foundation’s workshops.
Colecção Berardo
(Centro Cultural de Belém − Praça do Império)
Following in the steps of his dear friend, South-African lawyer Óscar Gatez, Joe Berardo never forgot their common motto: “Every investor has the obligation to do
good in his community”. Berardo became a millionaire recycling gold-mine slag in abandoned South-African mines and, in November 1988, created the Berardo Foundation: a private charity working in the fields of education, health and culture. In June 2007, his collection was installed on a ten-year loan at the Belém Cultural Centre, further credit to his determination to make art accessible to all: not bad for a man who once bought a Mona Lisa reproduction thinking it was a pretty original…. The Berardo Museum pays tribute to more than 800 original pieces of art ranging between Picasso, Miró, Dalì, Francis Bacon, Warhol, Tàpies, Vieira da Silva, Paula Rego and Gilbert & George.
Palácio da Fronteira (Fronteira’s Palace)
Journey back in time to the outskirts of Benfica, in north-west Lisbon, to Fronteira Palace (often called the Palace of the Marquises), a privately owned residence built
in 1640. Still one of the city’s most striking properties, your enthusiasm for its superb decoration, stunning azulejos (some of the finest in the city), contemporary furniture and 17th and 18th century oil paintings will increase with every room you enter. The breathtaking formal gardens include a terraced walk, topiary garden and mesmerizing fountains. Countless beautiful tiles illustrate hunting, battle and religious scenes, while mythological figures and statues are spread among busts of Portuguese Kings.
