Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

The MNAA occupies a seventeenth-century palace above the river in Lapa and holds the national collection of European painting, sculpture and decorative arts to the early nineteenth century. Three things carry it. Bosch's Temptation of St Anthony, a triptych of around 1500, is among his most complete surviving works and the museum's single most visited object. The Painéis de São Vicente, six panels attributed to Nuno Gonçalves in the 1470s, show sixty figures of the Portuguese court and are the great puzzle of Portuguese art history - who is depicted and what the scene means are still argued. And the Namban screens, painted in Japan around 1600, show the arrival of Portuguese ships and traders as Japanese artists saw them, with exaggerated trousers and long noses, from the decades before Japan closed. There is also Cranach, Dürer, Holbein, Piero della Francesca and a large gold and silver collection.

What you actually see

• Bosch's triptych - the Temptation of St Anthony, around 1500.
• The São Vicente panels - sixty court figures whose identities are still disputed.
• The Namban screens - Portuguese traders painted in Japan around 1600.
• The decorative arts - gold, silver, furniture and ceramics across the palace.

When to go

Year-round. Two to four hours - the collection is larger than most people allow for. Closed Mondays; free on the first Sunday morning of the month.

Honest expectations

Away from the tourist centre, needing a tram or a long walk. The building is a converted palace, so the circulation is confusing. Labelling is fuller in Portuguese. Some galleries close for rehanging.

Nearby

Lapa and the riverfront are below; the LX Factory and Alcântara are west.