Lisbon
Spread across steep hillsides that overlook the Rio Tejo, Lisbon offers all the delights you would expect of Portugal’s star attraction, yet with half the fuss of other European capitals. Gothic cathedrals, majestic monasteries and quaint museums are all part of the colourful cityscape, but the real delights of discovery lie in wandering the narrow lanes of Lisbon’s lovely backstreets.
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a Portuguese private institution of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education and science. Created by a clause in Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian's will, the Foundation's statutes were approved in 1956.
The Foundation actively pursues its statutory aims in Portugal and abroad through a wide range of direct activities and grants supporting projects and programmes.
The Foundation has an orchestra and a choir that perform throughout the year within a regular season, and organises solo and collective exhibitions of work by Portuguese and foreign artists. It also organises international conferences, meetings and courses, awards subsidies and scholarships for specialist studies and doctorates in Portugal and abroad, and supports programmes and projects of a scientific, educational, artistic and social nature. Moreover, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is actively involved in publishing, especially through its programme for university textbooks. It also fosters co-operation projects with Portuguese-speaking African countries and East Timor pursuing the Millennium goals, promotes Portuguese culture abroad, and operates a programme to preserve evidence of the Portuguese presence in the world. In addition to the activities pursued in Portugal and abroad for the promotion of Portuguese culture, the Foundation supports the Armenian Diaspora worldwide in order to preserve its language and culture.
Venue Contacts
FUNDAÇÃO CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN
Av. de Berna, 45A
1067-001 Lisboa
Tel: + 351217823000
info@gulbenkian.pt
Press office
Tel: + 351217823217
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Getting Here
Public transport:
Underground > S. Sebastião (Blue and Red line)
Buses > 716, 718, 726, 742, 746, 756
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The Ajuda National Palace
In the first half of the 18th century, King John V planned to build a summer residence in the Ajuda hill. The building of this Royal Palace in this place, however, would take place only after the Earthquake of 1755 which destroyed the royal residence, Paço da Ribeira (Ribeira Palace), at the Terreiro do Paço (Palace Public Square). On King José I 's initiative, the Royal Palace of Ajuda was built on the grounds acquired by his father firstly as a wooden building - commonly known as the Real Barraca (the Royal Hut) which burned to the ground in 1794 - and then as the Palace as it is nowadays (read more...).
Getting to the National Palace of Ajuda:
Getting Here:
Public transport:
Tram > 18E (stop: Calçada da Ajuda – Palácio)
Buses > 742, 760 (stop: Ajuda – Palácio)
Sintra
Sintra is a very special place and has numerous reasons for a visit. Beautiful beaches, monuments dream and a unique landscape full of green. Classified by UNESCO as World Heritage and Cultural Landscape during the 19th Session of the UNESCO Committee which took place on 6th December 1995, Sintra is one of those magic places where nature and man combined in a perfect symbiosis, as if they wanted to surprise us and fill us with emotion in the beauty of their work. (read more...)
The National Palace of Pena
Crowning the Serra de Sintra, as if it were a harmonious prolongation of the range itself, the picturesque and also fantastic Palace of Pena cannot help impressing the visitor.
This supreme example of Portuguese romantic architecture is due to the magic materialisation of the dreams of a Prince of Bavaria, Ferdinand of Saxe Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Maria II. In 1839 he bought the ruins of the former Monastery of Nossa Senhora da Pena, built in 1503; he developed and enlarged them, with the collaboration of the Prussian engineer Ludwig von Eschwege, to achieve an extremely sensitive creation (read more...).
Getting Here
GPS Coordinates:
38º 47’ 16.45” N | 9º 23’ 15.35” W
1) Direction Lisbon > Sintra
By train (CP) – Take the Sintra Line (green line, see Timetable)
Departure stations:
• Estação do Rossio
• Estação do Campolide
• Estação de Benfica
Stations with connection (to Campolide):
• Estação do Rossio
• Estação do Campolide
• Estação de Benfica
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2) Direction Sintra (historic centre) > National Palace of Pena
By bus (Scotturb)
• From Sintra Train Station – Pena Circuit
• From Sintra, take Scotturb bus No. 434, which runs from the railway station to the Palace of Pena.
On foot
• There are footpaths signposted between the historic centre and the National Palace of Pena.
Footpaths:
– Percurso de Santa Maria (Casa INFO > Moorish Castle/Pena; 1770 metres, 1 hour)
– Percurso da Lapa (Casa INFO > Pena; 1450 metres, 45 minutes)
– Percurso de Seteais (Seteais > Pena/Moorish Castle; 2410 metres, 1½ hours)
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