The Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) provided figures for 25 museums, monuments and palaces under protection, which showed a total of 1,508,362 visitors were received between January and June this year, compared to 223,802 visitors, in the first six months of 2021.

Despite the increase (+574%), compared to the same period of 2022, the turnout remains, however, still about a third below the pre-pandemic period, when, in the first half of 2019, more than 2.3 million visitors went to the sites.

Most popular museums

The Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon had the most visitors with a record of 363,766 entries (28,005 in the first half of 2021), followed by the Belém Tower with 227,219 (no value in the previous one due to closure for works, such as the Popular Art Museum), and the Batalha Monastery, with 109,563 (22,451 in 2021).

This is followed by the Convent of Christ, in Tomar, with 104,175 visitors (20,017 last year), the National Palace of Mafra, with 97,261 (17,455), the National Tile Museum, with 86,857 (6,990), the National Museum of Coaches, in Lisbon, 74,371 (10,854), the National Pantheon, with 62,689 (5,481), the Monographic Museum of Conímbriga, with 62,384 (10,190), the National Museum of Archeology, with 46,803 (16,498), the National Museum of Ancient Art , with 45,307 (11,056), and the Ajuda National Palace, with 36,470 (12,803).

In the same period, the Chiado National Museum, in Lisbon, registered 23,971 visitors (4,845), while the Soares dos Reis National Museum, in Porto, received 19,096 visits (4,150), the Machado de Castro National Museum, in Coimbra, 18,153 ( 4,676) and the Grão Vasco National Museum, in Viseu, 14,723 (7,391).