Entrance to museums, monuments and state-protected palaces will be free on Sundays and public holidays for citizens residing in Portugal, starting this Friday, the day the new rules come into force.
The ordinance also updates the entry fee for these places, dependent on the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage (DGPC), according to a government decree published on August 4 in Diário da República.
In the document, the government justified the update of the regulation, which has been in force since 2014, “by the growth of tourist activity, thanks to which the cultural offer has diversified in recent years, or by the introduction of an “online” sales channel, with the acquisition, in 2021, of a new ticket system.”
Until today, entry to museums, monuments and palaces administered by the DGPC has been free on Sundays and bank holidays only until 2:00 pm for all visitors.
Free access to museums, monuments and palaces in general (not just on Sundays and public holidays) also applies to children and young people under 12, unemployed visitors resident in the European Union, researchers, museologists and/or heritage professionals , conservators and conservators, provided they hold their positions, faculty and students of any level of higher education, including senior universities and accredited vocational schools on study tours, and groups with proven economic need.
This free access, which has been reorganized to reflect the “fundamental principle of universal access to culture” by government decree, continues to include ex-combatants, visitors with a proven disability equal to or greater than 60 years of age, among others. % , tourism or media professionals, including new digital platforms, provided that they are accredited and in the performance of their functions, visitors to corporate events or occasional situations.
In terms of discounts, 50% is reserved for visitors aged 65 and over, the same for young people aged 13 to 24, as well as “families, if they consist of at least two members, one of whom is an adult and the other minor”, in addition to the protocols.
In general, the new DGPC General Regulations for the sale of tickets and access to museums, monuments and palaces make some adjustments, namely with regard to the tables regarding excursions, the parameters of benefits and discounts, the norms and tables applicable to excursions, taking into account their specificity.
According to the document, some types of route tickets, the price of which has not changed since 2014, were adjusted and canceled.
Among other changes is the creation of a special price list for temporary exhibitions and the unification into a single typology of discounted tickets for Youth and Student Cards and Family and Multi-Family Tickets, according to the signed order of 27 July – Minister of Finance Fernando Medina and Minister of Culture Pedro Adán e Silva.
According to DGPC statistics, 3.3 million people visited national museums, monuments and palaces in 2022, representing a recovery of almost two million visits in the face of losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, these numbers fall short of the roughly four to five million pre-pandemic numbers between 2017 and 2019.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal

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