Traditionally held on May 18th 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 are part of the Portuguese Museum Network to join these celebrations, 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 totaled 334 registered activities, involving more than seven dozens of museums and monuments from all over the national territory, according to a statement from MMP released on Wednesday.

This year, the International Museum Day coincides with the European Night of Museums, 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 the MMP, admission to the 38 museums, monuments and national palaces under its supervision is free.

On this day, the Minister of Culture, Dalila Rodrigues, will mark the 20th anniversary of the reopening of the Museu Nacional Grão Vasco, in Viseu, which she directed, and where she will make a speech of "presentation of new cultural policies: classification, acquisition and circulation of works of art; autonomy of museums and democratization of access to culture; study, classification and rehabilitation of Fontelo", according to the minister's agenda.

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, and will then go to the Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis, for exhibition from June 1st.

In Guimarães, the Centro Internacional das Artes José de Guimarães will open the exhibition "Problemas do Primitivismo -- A Partir de Portugal", curated by Marta Mestre and Mariana Pinto dos Santos, followed, at night, by the "antimuseum" program, by Revolve, with Croatian Amor, DJ Lynce, DJ Veludo, Miguel Pedro, oqbqbo and Vanity Productions.

Gerardo Rodrigues on piano will mark the International Museum Day and the European Night of Museums at the Museu José Malhoa, in Caldas da Rainha, and at the Museu Nacional de Conímbriga there will be a presentation of communications in the scope of master's and doctorate works developed in 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 "Uma viagem pelo tempo: como é ser monge?", 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 "Retrato de um artista: a arte de Domingos Sequeira", while during the European Night of Museums, at 9:30 pm, in the former studio of the painter José Malhoa, at the Casa-Museu Anastácio Gonçalves, there will be "Uma soirée musical e literária do início do século XX", by the Movimento Patrimonial para a Música Portuguesa.

Also in the capital, the Museu Nacional de Etnologia will organize guided tours of 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, there will be a nineteenth-century ball.

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.

Leia Também: Dia Internacional e Noite dos Museus com centenas atividades no país (Portuguese version)