Nine museums and the Belém Tower are closed for requalification works, financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, according to Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, just over seven months before the end of the program.
Of this set of equipment, which involves seven national museums, the museum space that has been closed for the longest time, in the current situation of Museus e Monumentos de Portugal (MMP), released in response to the Lusa agency, is the National Museum of Archeology, closed since April 2022, and whose large-scale works involve two phases, with restoration and rehabilitation of the building to double the exhibition area.
The Rainha D. Leonor Museum, in Beja (closed since 2023), the National Music Museum (closed since October 2023, with opening in Mafra scheduled for November 22), the National Costume Museum, in Lisbon (closed since June 2024), the Lamego Museum (since May 2025), the National Museum of Ancient Art (since September 29, 2025), the National Museum of Azulejo and the National Theater and Dance Museum, in the capital, closed since November 1, are also on this list.
The Picadeiro Real is another exhibition space in Lisbon closed for works since September 29th of this year, but the National Coach Museum, to which it is connected, continues to operate, while the Torre de Belém, also in the capital, has been closed since last April.
The investments in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) are listed on the Cultural Heritage – Public Institute website, in the cultural component for the area of heritage recovery, where the document with the most recent update of the funds registered for works in museums and monuments is published.
In the case of the National Archeology Museum – founded in 1893 and housed in the Jerónimos Monastery since 1903 – the budget entered in that list is 19,385,678.66 euros, and, according to the Mais Transparência portal, intended for rehabilitation and remodeling works on the museum’s facilities, completion has not yet been announced, but the forecast for most of the projects is limited to the end of June 2026.
The museum brings together archaeological collections that cover Portuguese history from Prehistory to the founding of the country, also including foreign and ethnographic pieces, highlighting the treasure room, which preserves a collection of ancient goldsmithing and one of the largest collections in the Iberian Peninsula.
As for the National Music Museum, which is scheduled to open, according to MMP, on November 22nd, it has a budget of 5,750,000.00 euros for installation and museography works in a wing of the Mafra National Palace, after having been installed since 1994 in the Alto dos Moinhos metro station, in Lisbon.
The museum brings together more than 1,000 musical instruments from classical and popular traditions, construction tools, audio equipment, accessories, sheet music, phonograms, iconography and various documentation. Among the most valuable instruments, many of them classified as “national treasures”, we highlight the harpsichord by Joaquim José Antunes, from 1758, the harpsichord by Pascal Taskin, from 1782, the Stradivarius cello from 1725, which belonged to King Louis, and the piano that Franz Liszt used on his trip to Portugal in 1845.
As for the National Museum of Ancient Art, it was allocated 8,500,000.00 euros for conservation/improvement works on the north façade of the building, rehabilitation/remodeling of the roofs in the wing of the old Alvor Palace, and completion of the restoration of the Capela das Albertas.
Created in 1884, the MNAA currently brings together a collection of around 40 thousand pieces, housing the most relevant public collection in the country in painting, sculpture, Portuguese, European and Expansion decorative arts, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, including the largest number of works classified as “national treasures”, as well as the largest collection of Portuguese furniture.
The National Costume Museum, opened in 1977, has a budget of 2,100,000.00 euros for work that includes the repackaging of collections and the rehabilitation of the Angeja-Palmela Palace building, which houses a collection of clothing and accessories from the 18th century to the present, representing different historical periods, styles and trends.
The National Tile Museum was allocated a budget of 4,500,000.00 for, also according to the Mais Transparência portal, rehabilitation of the facades, conservation and restoration of the Bell Tower and the Coruchéu Tower, improvement and general restoration of the cloister, high choir and tile covering of the church.
Housed in the former Madre de Deus Monastery, founded in 1509 by Queen Leonor, the National Tile Museum was the most visited in the capital in 2024, with 297,203 entries, followed by the National Coach Museum, with 219,506, according to official statistical data.
As for the National Museum of Theater and Dance, with an assigned value of 2,769,962.87 euros, the planned works include the general rehabilitation of the building and garden of Palácio do Monteiro-Mor, where it is located, with a collection of more than 300 thousand pieces covering theater, dance and opera.
Stage costumes, costumes, models and set designs, photographs, posters, programs, records, scores, paintings, sculptures and caricatures, including works by renowned artists such as Almada Negreiros, Paula Rego and Maria Keil are part of the museum’s collection.
The list also includes the National Coach Museum – Picadeiro Real, whose total project value amounts to 5,300,000.00 euros for various interior conservation works, drainage review and facade conservation.
Ordered to be built in 1787 by Infante João, future King João VI, the Picadeiro Real is a neoclassical project attributed to Giacomo Azzolini, with decoration inspired by equestrian art, and transformed into a museum in 1904 on the initiative of Queen Amélia, having been opened in 1905 as the Royal Coach Museum. It was renamed the National Coach Museum in 1911.
The historic building is part of the new museum, housing 18th century carriages, royal portraits and a nucleus dedicated to the founder, and is classified as part of the National Monument of the National Palace of Belém.
The Lamego Museum, in the district of Viseu, has a budget of 1,750,000.00 euros for the rehabilitation of roofs, exterior openings/wooden frames, installation of an air conditioning system, execution of exterior arrangements with green spaces, installation of an exterior elevator for universal accessibility and also a museography project.
Founded in 1917 in the former Episcopal Palace of Lamego, it is one of the few centuries-old museums in Portugal, created following the Law of Separation of the State of Churches, and brings together an eclectic collection that includes painting, tapestry, goldsmithing, furniture and sacred art, highlighting the 16th century Flemish tapestries, the panels by Vasco Fernandes for the Lamego cathedral and the 17th century tiles, all classified as “national treasures”.
The Rainha D. Leonor Museum, in Beja, previously known as the Regional Museum of Beja, has a budget of 2,370,252.82 euros registered, in the same list, for the rehabilitation of roofs, church and terrace, conservation of facades and frames, installation of the air conditioning system, review and replacement of electrical installations, lighting and security equipment, and also for the restoration of the cloister.
This museum is located in the former Convent of Nossa Senhora da Conceição and covers thematic areas such as sculpture, painting, goldsmithing, tiles, decorative arts, metrology, ethnography and archaeology, with an emphasis on the territory of Baixo Alentejo.
As for the Belém Tower, in Lisbon, associated with the Jerónimos Monastery, a budget of 1,134,981.43 euros has been allocated for works that include interventions on the exterior and interior, such as restoration of stonework, plastering, carpentry, frames and recovery of metal elements.
Classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, the Belém Tower, built between 1514 and 1519 during the reign of Manuel I, as a defensive bastion, is one of the most emblematic symbols of Lisbon and Portugal.
The PRR is a national program scheduled to run until 2026 that aims to implement reforms and investments to promote sustained economic growth after the covid-19 pandemic.
In the area of culture, it covers interventions in classified cultural heritage of 73 sites, museums, monuments and national palaces, with a global value of 192,890,969.35 euros.