Lisbon, September 28, 2025 — The National Museum of Ancient Art (MNAA) in Lisbon is hosting a special program of activities today, marking the last day before its closure for renovations. The event, open for free to children and families, includes guided tours, games, and musical performances.
The MNAA announced this closure will commence on September 29 under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), with a reopening anticipated in the latter half of 2026, although no exact date has been confirmed.
Following a week of free admissions, the museum offers a program titled “MNAA Until Later!” which includes activities targeted at children and families, guided tours of the collections, and brief commentated walks enhanced by ancient music.
Activities for younger audiences feature a treasure hunt inspired by the museum’s artifacts and the creation of a collective mural inviting visitors to express ideas about the institution’s future.
The day-long games and workshops aim to “bring children closer to heritage by fostering creativity and exploration of the works,” highlights the museum in a statement regarding the closure announced earlier this week.
The program also offers guided tours led by experts, focusing on the conservation and restoration of the Saint Vincent Panels, a temporary exhibition of European paintings, and different sections of the permanent collection.
Concurrently, brief visits accompanied by ancient music performed by the ensemble AntiQuorum provide a dialogue between masterpieces of Portuguese and European painting and musical repertoires from the same eras.
The program includes compositions by Marin Marais, Pedro do Porto, Bartolomeu Trosilho, and Manuel Correia, illustrating the connections between the visual arts and musical production from the 15th to the 17th centuries.
During the PRR renovations, interventions will be executed in three areas of the MNAA building: renovation and requalification of the roof and facades, and updates to the museographic equipment and narrative on the second floor, which is dedicated to collections of goldsmithery, jewelry, ceramics, and arts of expansion.
The renovations at MNAA were initially expected to begin approximately a year ago, which “did not occur,” recalled the museum’s new director, Maria de Jesus Monge, in an interview this week.
The Gallery of European Art will see signage and museography updated and revamped, simultaneously continuing the conservation and restoration campaign of the Chapel of the Albertas, part of the museum building.
Regarding the reopening, it also “depends on the timeline of this intervention process,” referring to the indicative deadline of June 30, 2026, as stated by the director.
Throughout the renovations, museum teams will continue working, as “conditions of safety and conservation” allow for the continuation of restoration work, especially on the Saint Vincent Panels, an iconic painting by Nuno Gonçalves over 500 years old, a symbolic collective portrait of Portuguese history and culture of that era.
Restoration of the panels has been ongoing since 2020 as part of an international project supported by Millennium BCP Foundation, and Maria de Jesus Monge is confident it will be completed when the museum reopens.
The PRR works at MNAA will be overseen by the Lisbon Tourism Association and the Cultural Heritage Public Institute (PC-IP), which is responsible for the physical and financial implementation of the plan in the sector.
Earlier this year, the MNAA had announced the closure of the European Painting Gallery for works under the PRR in March, keeping all other exhibition rooms open to the public, featuring decorative arts, nativity scenes, furniture, jewelry, textiles, ceramics, and Portuguese painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
Last year, in June, the previous director of MNAA, Joaquim Caetano, indicated that works on the air conditioning system and subsequently on the facades and roof would begin in the following month.
According to the latest information from the More Transparency portal, 6.57 million euros were allocated under the PRR for interventions at MNAA, of which 1.32 million have already been spent, with a completion deadline of June 30, 2026.
Established in 1884, the MNAA currently houses a collection of around 40,000 pieces, offering the country’s most prominent public collection in European painting, sculpture, and decorative arts, spanning from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, including the largest number of works classified as “national treasures” and the largest collection of Portuguese furniture.
The collection includes some globally recognized artworks in various domains, notably the Saint Vincent Panels by Nuno Gonçalves, a masterpiece of 15th-century European painting.
