CugelVance

Germany - 22-Oct-24 -

I visited the head office and the garden of the Gulbenkian Foundation (open daily except tuesdays) on octobre the 7th,2024. The museum is a stone's throw away from both the metro station "Sao Sebastiao" and "Praca de Espanha". I went straight to the head office where I walked around inside the building for a few minutes. Afterwards I wandered around the garden until I reached the Center for Modern Art, where entry was free, so there was a fairly long queue. I wasn't in the mood to wait long, so I continued my wandering around the area. Finally I reached the headquarters again. Once again I entered it and looked at it from the inside again.
An absolutely ugly building from the outside, pure brutalism. The inside reminds me of a typical culture palace in the former socialist countries of eastern europe. Many ordinary factories in the world have nicer and more attractive head offices. I don't see any OUV. On the contrary.....I personally wouldn't shed a tear for the ugly building if it were torn down.

Jakob Frenzel

Germany - 10-Feb-21 -

October 2020 - on our 3rd day in Lisbon we made a small trip by tram to see the other tentative sight of Aguas livres and walked all the way to the Gulbenkian Museum. The museum was already about to close, so we probably missed the most important part of the nomination. But we stepped into the headquarters for a moment. Nice modern architecture somewhere between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe. The Garden has many nice elements and spots to relax. Lot of bamboo, ponds and old trees. All in all I believe though, that there are many more significant museums and especially gardens that would deserve Whs status. At least that way we got to see this.

Kyle Magnuson

California - United States of America - 11-Aug-18 -

The Head Office and Garden of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation are easily visitable from the nearby metro station: São Sebastião. Arriving mid-evening, numerous locals were enjoying this green space with blanket spreads, picnics, or just people lying down on the beautiful grounds. 

The garden is pleasant indeed, with bamboo, a trickling brook that dissects the grounds (plenty of turtles, ducks), and modern statues surrounded by green foliage. This was a highlight for me since we had spent several hours exploring Lisbon (2 days) during the morning, evening, and night (often quite busy). Therefore, this little slice of green mixed with modern architecture was a breath of fresh air.

Certainly, the use of concrete and glass here stands out. In some ways, the greenery has enveloped the large modernist structures, creating a unique interaction of the man-made and natural components.

Read more from Kyle Magnuson here.

Caspar Dechmann

Switzerland - 05-Feb-18 -

To me as a musician Gulbenkian meant until recently a Portuguese Orchestra. For most visitors of Lisbon probably means one of the best museums in the capital. Behind both of them stands the same Gulbenkian Foundation and I think one needs to know a little bit about it to understand this application on the tentativ list. The museum was built in the end of the 1950s, “when the country was still dominated by a conservative dictatorship, closed to the world and resistant to the values of progress. The foundation thus emerged unexpectedly in Portugal as a symbol of and place to promote art, education and science”. From a national perspective importance of this foundation can hardly be overrated.

But what is there to see? There is a big modern park with several buildings in it. Out of them only the big head office seems to be included in the application. This is a brownish long stretched building consisting of several simple volumes, quite Corbusier-like. The park around it is inspired by certain Japanese garden ideas: Big stone plates form the paths through lawns, ponds, artificial waterfalls, bamboo groves and old trees. Those trees are the most interesting aspect of the park: They stand in contrast to the modernity of the buildings and the garden. It seems the garden is based on a recreational farm from the 13 century. Therefore some of the trees may be very old and sometimes one gets the impression the buildings were created in respect to the trees and not the other way around. The building itself seems neither very beautiful nor special to justify an inscription on the merits of its architecture. Nor are the architects great names that have been waiting on a place on the list when some greater colleagues are still waiting for theirs. The main argument for inscription had to be based on the importance of the foundation and it seems consequent that in the application text of the state party the expression “intangible importance” pops up many times. If this is of national or international importance and if the world heritage status is the right way to honour this outstanding foundation remains to be disputed. A visit to the museum is recommendable in any case.