Gulbenkian in Portugal: the fruitful exile of a visionary

The history of 20th-century Portugal is marked by the arrival of men and women who, coming from abroad, found here a safe haven and ended up leaving a lasting legacy. Among them, none is as decisive as Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian. Born in 1869 in Scutari, in the Ottoman Empire, Gulbenkian soon became a citizen of the world: he studied in Marseille and London, made a fortune in oil business in the Middle East, and for decades moved between European capitals such as Paris and London, always in the shadows, as he himself liked to say, “Mr. Five Percent” of the great oil companies.

The Second World War pushed him into exile. Uprooted, he sought stability, security and discretion — rare qualities on a continent at war. It was in this context that Portugal, neutral under Salazar, emerged as a refuge. In 1942, he settled in Lisbon. He lived first at the Aviz Hotel, then on Avenida de Berna, and finally found in Portugal not only asylum, but the peace needed to plan the future of his immense fortune.

Gulbenkian’s life in Lisbon was discreet, almost invisible. He preferred intimacy to glamour, private salons to public space. Yet he was never detached from culture. An obsessive collector, he had gathered throughout his life a unique collection: Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Islamic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Impressionist art. A museum in potential, stored in vaults and warehouses, awaiting destiny. It was in Lisbon, away from the world’s turmoil, that he matured the idea of perpetuating this legacy.

He died in 1955, but his greatest gesture was only then fulfilled. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, created by testament, rose in Lisbon as a true temple of modern culture. Library, auditorium, museum, gardens — everything breathes his vision that wealth should not be merely private property, but a source of common good. Portugal, which had once been a land of passage, became his final destination and adoptive homeland, of a man who was not Portuguese but who left to Portugal one of its strongest cultural institutions.

Gulbenkian’s life in Portugal teaches us that greatness can be born of exile. He, who had been a foreigner in so many lands, here found rest. And we, heirs of his generosity, discover that the identity of a country is also built upon the legacy of those who, coming from afar, choose to place their trust in it.

Paulo Freitas do AmaralProfessor, Historian and Author