According to information regarding the renegotiation and reprogramming of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) in Culture, funding cuts have affected museums and monuments, with some entities removed from the PRR to include a list of other cultural facilities, notably in Évora.
In the area of “Requalification and conservation of museums, monuments, and public palaces and construction of the National Sound Archive,” with a total amount of 192.8 million euros, a reduction of 10.1 million euros stands out for the National Archaeology Museum (MNA) in Lisbon.
Located in the Belém area, the MNA has been closed since April 2022 and initially had a budget of 32.6 million euros for extensive renovation works, now reduced to 22.5 million euros, with completion aimed for the second quarter of 2026.
The reprogramming list, determined this month, excludes entities such as the José de Figueiredo Laboratory and the Archaeosciences Laboratory, both in Lisbon, which initially had 1.2 million euros and 967,966 euros allocated for requalification, respectively.
In the redistribution of funds in the area of Cultural Heritage, the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon sees an increase of 1.6 million euros from the PRR, bringing the total to 6.5 million euros. The National Archive of the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon and the Monastery of Santa Maria de Arouca, in the Aveiro district, are new additions, receiving allocations of 3.2 million euros and 1.5 million euros, respectively.
Additional equipment, museums, and monuments are targeted for requalification, with an increase of 27 million euros announced last February, mainly directed towards the Évora district, in preparation for Évora European Capital of Culture 2027.
This group includes the Monastery of São Bento de Cástris (9.5 million euros), the Convent of São José (7.5 million euros), and the Old EPAC Granaries (2.6 million euros). The only site outside Évora is the Episcopal Palace Gallery at the University of Minho in Braga, set to receive one million euros.
Changes in the PRR list for Culture also include the allocation of 1.2 million euros for the Silves Cathedral, alongside the removal of a 2.2 million euro provision for the walls and gate of Almedina in the Algarve municipality.
In Alentejo, Montemor-o-Novo’s Convent of the Immaculate Conception sees its planned investment reduce from 5.9 million euros to 3.8 million euros. This is due to the division of the project into two phases, the second of which will require funding outside the PRR.
In the PRR segment for the requalification of national theaters, maintaining the total allocation of 48.3 million euros, funds have been redistributed between the National Theater of São Carlos (TNSC) and the National Theater D. Maria II (TNDMII), both in Lisbon.
The TNSC, which closed in the summer of 2024, originally had a PRR budget of 32.7 million euros but now loses 5.5 million euros, which are transferred to the TNDMII.
The São Carlos Theater faces a “clear temporal infeasibility” of completing all work within the PRR deadlines—June 2026—due to an unsatisfactory international public tender for the initially planned works.
The TNDMII, initially announced to reopen in 2026, now has a total PRR budget of 15.1 million euros with the additional 5.5 million euros.
These PRR adjustments for Culture, focusing on Cultural Heritage and national theaters, are broadly justified by “very profound economic and geopolitical changes” leading to price increases.
Additionally, in Portugal, there is a noted lack of skilled labor, increasingly engaged with multiple construction and conservation projects in the market simultaneously.
The PRR is a European funding mechanism designed for structural reforms in response to the pandemic crisis caused by COVID-19.
For Culture, labeled measure C4 – Culture, a total of 346 million euros is allocated, including a grant of 102.39 million euros in the component for cultural networks and digital transition, according to the Ministry of Culture.
