Traditionally held on May 18 since 1997 to strengthen the ties between museums and society through various cultural activities, this year the international day will have as its motto "Museums, Education and Research", according to the website of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), promoter of the event worldwide. Based on this theme, the public company Museus e Monumentos de Portugal (MMP) launched the challenge to the 38 national museums and monuments, and to the 169 museum spaces that make up the Portuguese Museum Network to join these commemorations, promoting dozens of activities throughout the country, including several activities dedicated to families. Guided and thematic visits to exhibitions, to the reserves of some museums, theater, dance, circus and music shows, workshops, lectures, among other initiatives, mostly free of charge, for all audiences, make up a general program that currently totals 258 activities, involving more than seven dozen museums and monuments throughout the national territory, according to a statement from MMP. This year, the International Museum Day coincides with the European Museum Night, created in 2005, which allows visitors to enjoy these spaces at night and participate in the multiple scheduled activities, which can be consulted at https://dim.museusemonumentospt.pt/, in permanent update. According to MMP, admission to the 38 museums, monuments and national palaces under its tutelage is free. The program begins, in some spaces, as early as Thursday, namely in Braga, where it will be possible to make "A sound journey through musical education", a concert/recital that will associate music with the heritage space, at the Museu dos Biscainhos, and, in Porto, a "Visit at night and with lanterns!" is one of the proposals of the Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis. Still in the North, at the Mosteiro de Leça do Balio, headquarters of the Fundação Livraria Lello, the work "Descida da Cruz", by the Portuguese painter Domingos Sequeira (1768-1837), will be exhibited to the public for the first time, which will go to the Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis, for exhibition from June 1st. Gerardo Rodrigues on the piano will mark the International Museum Day and the European Museum Night at the Museu José Malhoa, in Caldas da Rainha, and at the Museu Nacional de Conímbriga there will be a presentation of communications within the scope of master's and doctoral works developed at that museum. In Coimbra, the municipal museum organizes the dramatized guided tour "O Guarda chaves sobe à Torre de Almedina", at 11:00 am, aimed at the general public and children over 6 years old, upon prior registration, according to the general program. In the district of Leiria, the Mosteiro de Alcobaça will present a workshop entitled "A journey through time: what is it like to be a monk?", at 10:30 am, to show an important part of the monument - the Scriptorium - where the monk copyists produced codices, the medieval books. In Lisbon, the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga will organize, especially for families, a visit-game related to "Portrait of an artist: the art of Domingos Sequeira", while during the European Museum Night, at 9:30 pm, in the former studio of the painter José Malhoa, at the Casa-Museu Anastácio Gonçalves, there will be "A musical and literary soirée from the early 20th century", by the Movimento Patrimonial para a Música Portuguesa. Still in the capital, the Museu Nacional de Etnologia will organize guided tours to the "Galerias da Amazónia", between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm, in whose visitable reserves, the general public has access to the collections related to Amazonian cultures with more than 1,700 objects that constitute them, representing a total of 37 indigenous peoples. In turn, the Museu Rainha D. Leonor, in Beja, will organize the "Museu na Rua" through workshops and, in Funchal, at the Museu Quinta das Cruzes, an 18th-century ball will take place. The MMP emphasizes, in the statement, that this year's edition of the International Museum Day highlights its "fundamental role in education and research, underlining the importance of museums as dynamic educational institutions that promote learning, discovery and cultural understanding". Annually, more than 40 thousand museums around the world participate in the International Museum Day, according to ICOM, organizing programs that involve, among others, guided tours, book launches, historical reenactments and conferences. Also Read: Funcionários dos Museus do Vaticano ameaçam processar o governo (Portuguese version)