I had been wanting to "explore" Lisbon's Orient Museum for quite a while, though I never seemed to be able to get around to doing it.
Housed in a former warehouse and open to the public since 2008 it is definitely worth being visited. Apart from being particularly well organised in what concerns the themes, some of the collections are outstandingly rich.
I started my morning visit by a temporary exhibition assembling 220 artistic paintings resulting from an illustrative Art competition on the cherry flower "Sakura" held in Japan. Some of those were really impressive and so were the different artistic "approaches", I must confess, though I photographed just a few.
I then headed to the permanent Museum collection rooms housed in two floors, having almost immediately been drawn to the rosewood "Oda Matan" (house doors) from West Timor dating back to the early 19th century.
According to a brief explanation I've had access to houses in East Timor, similarly to what happens in many parts of Southeast Asia are divided into gender sections with feminine symbols being quite often represented by a pair of breasts above some ornamental panel of spirals and lozenges.
According to a brief explanation I've had access to houses in East Timor, similarly to what happens in many parts of Southeast Asia are divided into gender sections with feminine symbols being quite often represented by a pair of breasts above some ornamental panel of spirals and lozenges.
I then headed to a whole section dedicated to the Gods and religious rites in several Asian countries. Maybe influenced by the fact that I'll soon be travelling to India, Rajasthan my footsteps lead me to the India section.
Paintings on wood to be seen on a portable altar with folding doors (Kavad) representing scenes from the Ramayana.
(to be continued)
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