Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

Set in a lemon-fronted, 17th-century palace, the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga is Lapa’s biggest draw. It presents a star-studded collection of European and Asian paintings and decorative arts. Keep an eye out for highlights such as Nuno Gonçalves’ naturalistic Panels of São Vicente, Dürer’s St Jerome, Lucas Cranach’s haunting Salomé and Courbet’s bleak Snow. Other gems include golden wonder the Monstrance of Belém, a souvenir from Vasco da Gama’s second voyage, and 16th-century Japanese screens depicting the arrival of the namban (southern barbarians), namely big-nosed Portuguese explorers.