Gulbenkian Foundation Museum, Lisbon

In 1971-,72, when I was finishing my BA, I wrote a long paper on Calouste Gulbenkian, from a well-connected Albanian family living in Istanbul and influential with the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. I wrote about his oil interests and how he influenced oil exploration/ownership in the middle East. Suffice it to say that because of his deal-making skills, after WW I he owned a large personal share of mid east oil, and by 1950 he owned 5% of most of mid east oil. This vast fortune allowed him to exercise his interest in art, and over 50 years he collected an impressive variety of objects, which are now on display in Lisbon. It is probably the best museum I've ever seen in terms of variety and quality -- everything is of the highest quality: Persian carpets, French furniture, ancient coins, Monet, Manet, Chinese ceramics, glassware, Turkish ceramics, medieval bibles-- it's quite impressive.