Lisbon, Sept. 22, 2025 (Lusa) - The National Museum of Ancient Art (MNAA) in Lisbon will close to the public on 29 September as part of works under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), with no reopening date planned, the museum announced in a statement on Monday.
According to the museum, during the last week of opening, between today and 28 September, admission to the museum will be free, and a programme of activities for children and families with free admission is planned for Sunday, including guided tours, games and musical moments.
During the works, interventions are planned in three areas of the MNAA building: on floor 2, dedicated to the goldsmithing, jewellery, ceramics and expansion arts collections, "museum equipment is to be updated, as well as the respective exhibition discourse".
In the European Art Gallery, "the signage and museography will be redesigned and updated; the building's refurbishment work will include the roofs and the conservation of the façades," the museum lists.
The conservation and restoration campaign for the Albertas Chapel, part of the museum building, "is still ongoing and its reopening is also subject to the PRR timetable".
As for the reopening, it too "is conditioned by the timetable of this intervention process" of the works under the plan.
"This is a unique moment and opportunity to prepare the museum for the next decade, and it is hoped that the reopening will provide visitors with a more inclusive and accessible facility, and an updated understanding of our collections," he also emphasises, regarding the future of the organisation after the planned works.
The work is being carried out under the auspices of the Lisbon Tourism and Cultural Heritage Association - Public Institute (PC-IP), the organisation responsible for monitoring the physical and financial implementation of the plan in the sector.
At the beginning of the year, the MNAA announced that it would close the European Painting Gallery in March for work under the PRR, while keeping all the other exhibition rooms available to the public, from decorative arts, cribs, furniture, jewellery, textiles, ceramics and Portuguese painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
Last year, in June, the previous director of the MNAA, Joaquim Caetano, announced that work on the air conditioning system would begin the following month, followed by work on the façades and roof.
According to the most recent information on the Mais Transparência portal, under the PRR, funding of €6.57 million was allocated for interventions at the MNAA, of which €1.32 million has already been paid, with a completion deadline of 30 June 2026.
Created in 1884, the MNAA currently has a collection of around 40,000 pieces, housing the country's most important public collection of painting, sculpture, decorative arts - Portuguese, European and from the Expansion - 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 collection includes some of the world's most important works of artistic heritage, such as the Panels of St Vincent by Nuno Gonçalves, considered a masterpiece of 15th-century European painting.
The RRP is a European programme, running until 2026, which aims to implement reforms and investments aimed at restoring sustained economic growth after the pandemic.
AG/ADB // ADB.
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