The National Museum of Ancient Art is the most important art museum from the 12th to the 19th centuries in Portugal and houses the most important public collection of ancient art in the country. Its collections have about 40,000 pieces, including paintings, sculptures, tapestries, drawings and European decorative arts, as well as collections of Asian art (India, China, Japan, etc.) and African art (Afro-Portuguese ivories) brought to the Portuguese metropolis after the voyages of discovery, which began in the fifteenth century and of which Portugal was a pioneer nation.
The museum is located in a palace from the end of the 17th century, built by Francisco de Távora, the first Count of Alvor, which is why the building is known as the Palácio de Alvor-Pombal. In 1879 the palace was rented, and later acquired, by the Portuguese State to install the National Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology, officially opened on May 11, 1884.
