Ema Gordon Klabin Cultural Foundation, Private art museum in Jardim Europa district, São Paulo, Brazil.

The Ema Gordon Klabin Cultural Foundation occupies a single-storey house of about 900 square metres on a 4,000-square-metre plot at Rua Portugal, Jardim Europa. Architect Alfredo Ernesto Becker designed it in the 1950s in an eclectic style modelled on the palace pavilions of Potsdam's Sanssouci, which Ema Klabin had visited in her youth. Rooms open off a long semicircular gallery facing the garden by Roberto Burle Marx, under ceilings nearly five metres high.

The foundation was established after a fire damaged the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in 1978, prompting the collector to safeguard her extensive holdings. This incident led to the transformation of a private residence into a publicly accessible art venue.

Ema Klabin began collecting as a young woman with oriental rugs, porcelain and silverware, and the rooms keep that arrangement rather than a curator's order. The house-museum preserves a closed collection shown as she left it, with European paintings, Brazilian modernists, Asian and African pieces and pre-Columbian works displayed together. Her library holds illuminated manuscripts and incunables.

The site welcomes visitors on specific days, with guided tours available at set times and groups accommodated up to about 40 people. It is helpful to confirm opening times in advance and book ahead if you plan to visit as part of a larger group.

The house was modelled on Sanssouci, the Potsdam palace Ema Klabin visited in her youth, and its single floor is arranged around a long semicircular gallery facing the garden. The 4,000-square-metre grounds were laid out by Roberto Burle Marx.