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Portugal's government said Monday it had reached a deal with one of the country's richest men to put his major modern art collection on permanent public display in Lisbon by the end of the year.
Jose Berardo' collection of over 4,000 items, which includes works by Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso, will be housed at the Belem Cultural Center, one of Portugal's main cultural venues, the culture ministry said.
Only a small part of the collection, Portugal's biggest of modern art, is currently available for public viewing.
"It is important that people realize that this collection of 20th century paintings will fill a very big void in terms of what the public could see without leaving the country," Culture Minister Isabel Pires de Lima told Radio Renascenca.
Berardo, who made a fortune in the mining sector in South Africa, had sought an agreement with Lisbon to display his collection in Portugal for almost one decade.
He had threatened to move the collection abroad if a deal were not reached soon with the Portuguese government by the end of 2005 and at the end of December Lisbon announced it had reached a tentative accord with the tycoon.
The culture minister and Berardo will sign the final agreement at a ceremony to be held on Monday afternoon, the culture ministry said.
Berardo, the chairman of holding company Metalgest, is estimated to have amassed a fortune worth more than 500 million euros (600 million dollars), making him the 10th richest man in Portugal according to newsweekly Focus.
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AFPEntertainment-art-Portugal
AFP 031122 GMT 04 06
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