Bordallo Pinheiro Garden – Lisbon, Portugal - Atlas Obscura

Bordallo Pinheiro Garden

A garden in Lisbon filled with giant porcelain creatures. 

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A beautiful small garden in the Museum of Lisbon - Pimenta Palace, where the amazing (and a little frightening) giant porcelain creations of Portuguese 19th-century artist Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro bask in the sun.

Scattered in huge and unlikely scenes amongst the trees, bushes, and live peacocks are oversized snakes, lizards, toads, bees, shellfish, mushrooms, and cats – all made of china. While much of the artwork is obscure, one piece is well-known – the gold medal that Bordallo Pinheiro won in the Paris International Exhibition of 1889.

Directly across the Campo Grande from the Museum of Lisbon is the Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro Museum, dedicated to the artist himself.

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