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Joint Issue Portugal - Armenia

Set
GBP £1.25
First Day Cover
GBP £2.03
Collectibles
GBP £2.28
About Joint Issue Portugal - Armenia

Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was born on 23 March 1869, in Üsküdar, Istanbul, in what is today Turkey, to a family of wealthy Armenian merchants. He studied in Marseilles and London, where he trained as engineer at King’s College. He went on to work in the expanding petroleum industry, which he helped to build and develop, and through which he amassed an immense fortune.

In April 1942, eeing the war that once more raged across Europe, he left Paris for Lisbon, where he lived for the nal 13 years of his life. He died there on 20 July 1955, having expressly declared in his will his wish to create a foundation bearing his name and with an international vocation: in Portugal and around the world it was to be devoted to charity, art, education, and science, while its central o ce in Lisbon would host his remarkable art collection, which at that time was dispersed across various countries.

In the year in which the 150th anniversary of Caloutse Gulbenkian’s birth is commemorated, recognition must be granted to his immensely generous gesture, which is embodied in the activities of the Foundation he created and which, for over 60 years, has contributed to a more socially aware and better educated society. As Calouste Gulbenkian used to say, whenever we act with conviction and deep con dence, on the basis of what we believe in, “this faith will shine on all that surrounds it and will continue to spread unceasingly.” And that is the remarkable experience we have as we undertake our work at the Foundation, through which, every day we seek to anticipate the future and prepare the people of tomorrow.

Isabel Mota President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation