Portugal Agrees to Rewrite Its 52 Free Museum Days by June 2027 to Settle an EU Case, as Lisbon's National Museum of Ancient Art Reopens

Portugal has told the European Commission it will change Acesso 52, the scheme that gives residents 52 free days a year at the country's national museums, monuments and palaces, by the end of the first half of 2027. Culture Minister Margarida Balseiro Lopes gave the date to parliament on Thursday 8 October, and said the commitment had been made at a meeting with the Commission that morning, according to RTP and the news agency Lusa.

Nothing changes yet: the free days work as before, and the new rules have not been written. The minister also gave a reopening date for Lisbon's National Museum of Ancient Art: 21 November.

What the minister said

The government promised to have the measure "corrected" by the end of the first half of next year, Ms Balseiro Lopes told MPs during a sectoral policy debate, adding that Portugal had "naturally" not yet set out the terms of the revision. She was blunt about the alternative: "Portugal will not spend a euro paying a fine for a measure it knows does not comply with European law."

She also said the government must still "guarantee that the Portuguese can access museums 52 times a year", while giving equal treatment to people who live in any other EU country. "We will see on what terms," she told MPs, as reported by Lusa in Observador.

She added that 71 percent of people who visit a museum under Acesso 52 do not come back, and called for more educational services and guided tours.

Why Brussels objects

The Commission opened the case on 16 December 2024 with a letter of formal notice, the first formal step in an infringement procedure (reference INFR(2024)2250). It said free entry reserved for residents of Portugal discriminates against visitors who live in other member states, in breach of the Services Directive and Article 56 of the EU treaty on the free movement of services. The next step would be a reasoned opinion. We found no public record of a later step in this case.

When we first reported the rethink on 1 August, there was no deadline. Now there is.

How to use your free days now

The rules in force are set by Despacho n.º 13793/2024, which grants free entry "to all citizens resident in national territory, on 52 days a year, at the visitor's choice", from 1 August 2024. In practice:

• Where: the 37 sites run by Museus e Monumentos de Portugal (Museums and Monuments of Portugal, MMP), including the Jerónimos Monastery, the Belém Tower, Batalha and the Soares dos Reis museum in Porto.
• When: any day of the week. The government's 2024 announcement says you can visit more than one site on the same free day.
• How: on your first visit you register at the ticket desk by showing your Cartão de Cidadão (citizen card) and giving your tax number (NIF). On each later visit you show the card again and one of your 52 days is used.
• What it saves: a normal ticket costs 18 euros at the Jerónimos Monastery and 15 euros at the Belém Tower or the National Museum of Ancient Art, according to the MMP tickets page.

A note for foreign residents. The official pages say the scheme is for "Portuguese nationals and residents", but the only document they name is the Cartão de Cidadão, which only Portuguese citizens hold. The ticketing rules require "the corresponding official document, valid and up to date". They do not say which document a foreign resident should show. Take your residence permit and your NIF, and if in doubt ask MMP first at [email protected].

Some free entry does not depend on residence: children aged 12 and under, and unemployed people resident anywhere in the EU, get in free with no day limit. Visitors aged 65 or over and those aged 13 to 24 pay half price.

Several sites, including the National Tile Museum, are temporarily closed, so check the MMP list before you travel.

What is not known

• Whether free days will be extended to other EU residents, cut back or replaced by discounts.
• Whether non-EU residents of Portugal will keep the same access under a new scheme.
• When the new rules take effect. The commitment is to have them in place by the end of June 2027; no date or text has been published.

The National Museum of Ancient Art reopens on 21 November

The Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (National Museum of Ancient Art, MNAA) in Lisbon has been closed since 29 September 2025 for works paid for by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR). The minister gave the reopening date in reply to Chega MP Patrícia Carvalho, RTP reported. The museum received 8.5 million euros to conserve the north façade, rebuild the roofs of the old Palácio Alvor wing and finish restoring the Capela das Albertas (Albertas Chapel).

Its roughly 40,000 pieces include the Saint Vincent Panels, the Belém Monstrance and Bosch's Temptations of Saint Anthony. The closure was one of the reasons national museum visits fell in 2025, and it was among the venues in the PRR culture programme that faced an end-of-August deadline. It is on the Acesso 52 list, so residents can use a free day there once it reopens.