The Chiado Museum

(L I S B O N)

The Portuguese love to share their rich culture with the rest of the world. This beautiful museum is proof, yet again, of their dedication to quality.

Located in the former convent of Sao Francisco, the muséo do Chiado was recently remodeled by the French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte.

Its collections of paintings and sculptures illustrate the evolution of Portuguese art from 1850 to 1950, that is, from the Romantic period to Post-Naturalism, as well as a few modernist Portuguese works.

It's a pleasant museum to visit with its open spaces, with collections that change regularly. You can visit an entire room dedicated to the painter Joao Cristino da Silva (1829- 1877), a student of the Lisbon School of Fine Arts (an institution whose teaching he later refuted).

A great deal of thought went into the positioning of the sculptures and statues throughout the museum, so that the public can appreciate these works for all they are worth.