On 13 July 2023, Portugal's Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, announced the introduction of free access to state-run museums, palaces and monuments on Sundays and public holidays (all day), exclusively for residents in Portugal (i.e. Portuguese nationals and foreigners legally resident in the country).
🗓 This new rule came into force on 1 September 2023 and applies to the list of Museums and Monuments available for consultation on the DGPC (Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage) website.
"This measure is in line with the Minister's policy of promoting the democratisation of access to culture, and at the same time aims to combat the phenomenon of long queues in the morning, by allowing visitors to enjoy museums throughout the day", explained the Ministry spokeswoman.
However, foreign tourists will have to pay to get in.
As a reminder, until now :
admission was free on Sundays and public holidays, mornings only (until 14:00), for everyone,
70% of visitors to Portugal's museums were foreign tourists,
Of the 30% of visitors who were Portuguese, only 15% paid the full admission price.
📊 In 2022, Portugal's museums, monuments and national palaces had a total of 3.3 million visitors, representing a recovery of almost 2 million admissions compared to the losses suffered during the covid-19 pandemic. However, these figures are below the 4 to 5 million achieved before the pandemic, between 2017 and 2019.