The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, over the almost six decades since its opening in 1969, had undergone changes and alterations that had taken it away from its original vision. It was nothing incredibly dramatic, explains Lisbon-based architect Teresa Nunes da Ponte, who worked on the restoration alongside French conservation architect and museum specialist Frédéric Ladonne, but the effect was cumulative. 'A lot of bigger and smaller renovations over 60 years meant that a lot of original details had been lost along the way.'
So when the decision was made to renovate and update the museum, the plan was not to expand or radically reinvent the museum she says, but rather to 'return it to the principles and rules of the original project' and amplify what had always been so unique and rewarding about the building and its spaces; its relationship with the 18-acre lush woodland and landscaped grounds of the Gulbenkian Foundation around it.
Discover the restored Gulbenkian Museum in Portugal
The museum is built around a private collection that is extraordinary in scope, explains Gulbenkian Museum Director Xavier Francesco Solomon, ranging as it does from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia via China, Japan and the Islamic world to 18th-century French art and impressionist masterpieces.
Unlike many great museum buildings that ignore their future contents, this one, designed by architects Ruy Jervis d’Athouguia, Pedro Cid and Alberto Pessoa, was purpose-built for the collection. 'Every part of the building was thought out very carefully in response to it,' says Solomon.
One of the museum’s most unique features, and one that makes it different from most of its modernist counterparts, continues Solomon, is 'the relationship between the architecture, the collection and nature.' In the Gulbenkian museum, this means you can pore over one of the world’s most important collections of 14th-century Mamluk glass from Egypt and Syria against a backdrop of plants and trees, and you can admire Jean-Antoine Houdon’s Diana statue as the leaves of neighbouring trees create seductive dappled shapes across her plinth and the wall behind her in the afternoon sun.
But this many floor-to-ceiling windows also came at a cost, says Solomon. 'It became a nightmare in terms of conservation, and we could write a whole book about the different types of shutters and curtains that were put on the windows to deal with it.'
One of the first things the architects did was replace these curtains and shutters with several layers of subtler and more advanced protection. The bronze-tinted glass was covered in a UV-filtering film, and a micro-perforated fabric screen was placed inside the windows. These can be pulled up when there is no direct sun, but even when they are down, they allow for full and unhindered views of the landscape.
Specific trees and shrubs were also planted in the museum’s two courtyards and around the building that will create shade as they grow, especially in the section with the 18th-century paintings, explains Nunes da Ponte. The result is that the connection with the surrounding landscape has not only been restored but improved. As Solomon says: 'All the negative aspects of natural light are blocked so you can actually enjoy the original vision better than you would have in 1969.'
Similar technological improvements have been made to the glass vitrines and display cases, which have now been fitted with anti-reflective glass that allows for deep views without any glare. The lighting has also been upgraded by French lighting design agency ACL to recreate the warm golden glow that was a feature when the museum opened and to create a soft illumination of the walls and individual pieces from rails and cutouts in the ceilings.
In terms of spatial flow, several partition walls have been removed in the European galleries, and the display walls have been designed not to join up so that no rooms within rooms are created. These gaps between the walls create a sense of transparency and permeability that was very present in the original concept, says Nunes da Ponte, and can also be seen in the Foundation HQ building next door.
'The idea is that you are always getting a preview of what is coming next, which creates surprise and anticipation,' she says. In the same vein, the original slatted wooden screen between the Asian and European galleries, which allowed for tantalising glimpses of the Rubens’ and Rembrandts from the Japan and China gallery, had been replaced by an opaque wall during one of the renovations, creating a division between the sections. A slatted metal and wood screen has now been put back, reinstating that sense of a sequence and connection between the rooms.
A few hero materials are used to great effect throughout the project, including timber, concrete, bronze, stone, leather and silk (the latter on the walls and even ceilings in two of the rooms, including the magnificent and more contemporary Lalique gallery). There are no painted walls, so the colour always comes from the material itself, explains Nunes da Ponte. And a lot of care and attention has gone into material combinations. 'A rule of the original project was that you never had a granite plinth on top of a granite floor,' explains Nunes da Ponte. 'It would have to be a granite plinth on a Lioz marble floor or the other way around.'
The most controversial part of the project appears to have been the decision to reinstate the fitted carpet throughout the Europe galleries that had been removed in 2000 and replaced with hardwood flooring. It’s a slightly lighter colour than the original carpet, a greenish beige instead of a dark green, but it is a game-changer according to Solomon.
'The experience of walking on it is much more pleasant, and there’s a sense that after the more monumental Islamic and Asian galleries you are now in a much more domestic setting,' he says. 'With the previous polished wood floor you could see all the lights and paintings reflected in the floor.' Unusually for a major museum with a significant and very varied collection, the experience of visiting the Gulbenkian museum is refreshingly peaceful and soul-nurturing. Even more so since this thoughtful and deeply considered restoration.
