The UNESCO World Heritage City of Sintra situated close to the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon played host to the 3rd Painting & Patronage exhibition. The formal opening ceremony took place in September 2005 at the historic National Palace of Sintra and centred around an exhibition of twenty seven of the most recent paintings by HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal including two new paintings of Portuguese landscapes.
>HE President Jorge Sampaio of Portugal, who earlier had honoured Painting & Patronage by granting his High Patronage over the exhibition, joined Prince Khalid Al-Faisal in inaugurating the exhibition in the presence of senior members of both the Saudi Arabian and Portuguese Governments as well as over 500 other leading cultural and artistic personalities from both countries.
To mark the occasion Prince Khalid Al-Faisal formally announced the launch of an artistic exchange programme between Saudi Arabia and Portugal. This exchange will allow for up to 30 amateur and professional artists from Portugal to visit and exhibit in Saudi Arabia. Each artist will be able to spend time exploring and painting the spectacular landscapes of Saudi Arabia including its mountain ranges and shores, as well as spend time in an Arabian tent among the moving sands of the desert.