Lisbon is a hub of culture, but you don’t need to wander too far outside of the city to find other innovative and intriguing cultural spaces.
In Linhó, an enclave of nearby town Sintra, a brand-new museum dedicated to porcelain just opened. The Albuquerque Foundation is headed by Mariana Teixeira de Carvalho, who converted a building belonging to her grandfather, Brazilian civil engineer Renato Albuquerque, into a public museum displaying his vast collection of ceramics. The building used to be the family’s holiday home.
Albuquerque holds one of the world’s largest collections of Chinese export porcelain, including pieces from the Ming and Qing dynasty.
His collection boasts over 2,500 pieces, but the inaugural exhibition, Connections, will feature just 20 percent of them. ‘The goal is to keep exhibitions rotating, with different curators offering fresh perspectives on the collection,’ says Mariana.
Stepping through the gates, visitors will find not only the traditional-style holiday home – which now houses the museum shop, a restaurant, a library, and three artist-in-residence suites – but also two stunning contemporary buildings.
The first, a glass structure with a sweeping wooden canopy and a spiral staircase leading to a semi-underground level bathed in natural light, houses exhibitions spanning from the 20th century BCE to the 18th century CE. The second, nestled at the back of the garden, is dedicated to contemporary art and will launch with The Ever-Present Hand, a show by American ceramist, archivist, and musician Theaster Gates.
Instead of following a strict chronological order, Connections is arranged thematically (‘Life in the East and West’, ‘Encounters’, and ‘The Spiritual Realm’), starting with China, the most advanced and prolific producer and exporter of ceramics in the world, and ‘reveals the unexpected links between different cultures and how lifestyles in two vastly different regions – East and West – overlapped,’ according to Mariana.
The exhibition was curated by porcelain expert Becky MacGuire and will be on display until August 30, 2026.
The Ever-Present Hand, a contemporary exhibition, might seem worlds apart from the Albuquerque Collection, but when you enter the room, make sure to look down. Why? Well, one of the most striking installations in The Ever-Present Hand is, quite literally, the floor.
Visitors will walk across black ceramic tiles, which sit in stark contrast between classic Chinese porcelain, revered for its pristine white purity (once known as ‘white gold’). Through his work, Theaster Gates critically explores economic, political, and racial themes, incorporating select pieces from the Albuquerque Collection.
Mariana said: ‘Theaster’s work raises the exact questions we wanted to ask. What was happening in the world when these pieces were made? What was happening in Portugal when we commissioned these works from China? That context needs to be explored. Learning from the past’s imperfections is how we ensure they’re never repeated.’
This exhibition is running until August 31, 2025. You can read more about it, and Connections, plus information about opening times and ticket prices on the Albuquerque Foundation’s website here.
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