MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture & Technology

MAAT — the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology — occupies a striking riverside site in Belém, Lisbon, combining a converted early-20th-century power station (the Central Tejo) with a new undulating white gallery building completed in 2016, designed by the British architectural firm Amanda Levete Architects. The two structures are united by a riverside promenade and linked by a pedestrian bridge. The new gallery building's curved, ceramic-tile-clad rooftop is itself a public walkway and one of the better vantage points over the Tagus in Belém — visitors can walk up and across it free of charge even without buying a museum ticket. Inside, MAAT houses changing exhibitions of contemporary art with a focus on the intersection of digital technology, architecture, and artistic practice; the museum does not maintain a fixed permanent collection in the conventional sense, but rotates major solo and thematic shows across both buildings. The Central Tejo power station galleries are housed in the original turbine hall and boiler rooms, and the industrial aesthetic of the preserved machinery and high brick vaults is as compelling as the art it contains. A visit covering both buildings takes 1.5–2 hours. MAAT's riverside terrace bar and restaurant are popular in the afternoon, particularly in summer when the setting sun catches the Tagus directly from the terrace.