Museu de Lisboa: Hours, Prices and the Five Sites

One Museum in Five Places

Museu de Lisboa is Lisbon's city museum, run by EGEAC, the municipal culture body. It has no single grand building. The permanent exhibition on city history sits at Palácio Pimenta in Campo Grande, while four smaller places carry individual threads of the city's past. The Roman Theatre in Alfama shows the remains of a 1st-century structure. Santo António next to the cathedral is devoted to the city's saint. Casa dos Bicos in Alfama pairs a 16th-century facade with an archaeological site on its ground floor. The Torreão Poente at Praça do Comércio is temporarily closed for conservation works, so plan around the four open places.

The sites sit in two separate parts of the city. The joint ticket stays valid for 2 months after purchase. Contact for the museum: [email protected] and +351 217 513 200.

• Palácio Pimenta (Campo Grande 245): permanent city history exhibition
• Teatro Romano (Alfama): Roman structure dating to 1 AD
• Santo António (Sé): exhibition on the city's saint
• Casa dos Bicos (Alfama): 16th-century facade and archaeological centre
• Torreão Poente (Praça do Comércio): temporarily closed for conservation

The Numbers That Decide Your Visit

Three sites open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 and close Mondays. Casa dos Bicos works the other way round, Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays. Last entry everywhere is 30 minutes before closing, so 17:30 for a 18:00 close. Prices are modest: €5 ($5.58) for Palácio Pimenta, €4 ($4.46) for Santo António or the Roman Theatre, and €8 ($8.92) for the joint ticket covering those three, valid 2 months. The ground floor of Casa dos Bicos is free.

Free entry has clear rules. Children up to 12 years enter free, as do adult Lisboa Card holders. Residents of the Lisbon municipality enter free on Sundays and holidays until 14:00, a rule tourists do not qualify for. Ages 13 to 25 who are not Lisbon residents and university students up to 25 pay half. Everyone enters free on 18 May and 13 June. If your days in the city are tight, the page on the Lisboa Card for museums shows how the card works across the city, and free museums in Lisbon lists what costs nothing year round.

Site by Site

The table puts the five places side by side, with prices and days from the museum's own admission page and EGEAC. Time needed per site is not stated by the museum, so plan by theme instead. Palácio Pimenta is the only site with a full permanent exhibition, the other three are focused visits in the historic centre.

How to Group Them

The Roman Theatre and Casa dos Bicos both lie in Alfama, and Santo António stands beside the cathedral. Casa dos Bicos is free on its ground floor, so it adds nothing to the bill.

Palácio Pimenta sits alone at Campo Grande 245, and its collection is the reason most people come: the permanent exhibition on Lisbon's history, with archaeology reaching back 300,000 years. Give it its own outing by metro. For a broader read of the city's story, the Lisboa Story Centre on Praça do Comércio takes about 60 minutes.

Every Price on One List

The museum sells single tickets per site. Palácio Pimenta costs €5 ($5.58) for the permanent exhibition. The Black Pavilion's temporary exhibition costs €4 ($4.46) on its own, or €7 ($7.81) combined with Palácio Pimenta. Santo António and the Roman Theatre cost €4 ($4.46) each. The ground floor of Casa dos Bicos is free, and there is no ticket needed for it. The joint ticket costs €8 ($8.92) and covers Palácio Pimenta, Santo António and the Roman Theatre, valid for 2 months after purchase. The museum's admission page lists no other age or category discounts beyond the free and half-price rules described below.

Buy online at museudelisboa.bol.pt or at the sites. Which combination to buy depends on your plan. Visiting Palácio Pimenta, Santo António and the Roman Theatre: the €8 ($8.92) joint ticket. Only visiting Pimenta: the €5 ($5.58) single. Only chasing Roman archaeology: the €4 ($4.46) Roman Theatre single.

• Palácio Pimenta permanent exhibition: €5 ($5.58)
• Palácio Pimenta + Black Pavilion: €7 ($7.81)
• Black Pavilion exhibition alone: €4 ($4.46)
• Santo António: €4 ($4.46)
• Teatro Romano: €4 ($4.46)
• Joint ticket (Pimenta + Santo António + Teatro Romano): €8 ($8.92), valid 2 months
• Casa dos Bicos ground floor: free

Hours per Site

Palácio Pimenta, Santo António and the Roman Theatre share one pattern: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, closed Mondays. Casa dos Bicos runs Monday to Saturday 10:00-18:00 and closes Sundays. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing at all sites, so arrive by 17:30.

Annual Closed Days and a Monday Trick

All sites close on 1 January, 1 May, 24 December, 25 December and 31 December. Casa dos Bicos closes on those same dates in addition to its weekly Sunday.

The split pattern works in your favour. On a Monday, when Palácio Pimenta, Santo António and the Roman Theatre are shut, Casa dos Bicos is open, and its ground floor is free. Monday is the main closing day across Lisbon's museum world, so check the page on which museums in Lisbon open on which day before planning. On a Sunday, the reverse applies: Casa dos Bicos is shut but the other three sites run, and Lisbon residents enter free until 14:00.

Who Enters Free

The museum's admission page lists the free categories clearly. Children up to 12 years old enter free. Adult holders of the Lisboa Card enter free. The admission page gives no per-site list. Residents of the Lisbon municipality enter free on Sundays and holidays until 14:00, on showing proof of residency. This is a local rule, so tourists do not qualify. Everyone enters free on 18 May and 13 June.

Half price applies to visitors aged 13 to 25 who are not residents of the Lisbon municipality, and to university students up to 25. The joint ticket carries no other age or category discounts beyond these. If you are weighing the card against single tickets, the Lisboa Card for Museums page runs the numbers across the whole city, since the card also covers the Fado Museum and the Puppet Museum free and trams and metro on top.

A Summer Palace Turned City Museum

Palácio Pimenta is an 18th-century summer palace, standing on Campo Grande 245, 1700-091 Lisboa. The city museum has occupied it since 1979. Its rooms hold the permanent exhibition on Lisbon's history, which is why a visit to Museu de Lisboa usually means a visit here.

The collection spans paintings, ceramics, engravings, maps and azulejos, the decorative tiles Lisbon is known for. The archaeology section reaches back 300,000 years, to long before any city stood here. The collection includes a model of Lisbon as it stood before the 1755 earthquake. The National Tile Museum is closed for works and the National Museum of Ancient Art (MNAA) is closed, with a partial reopening planned for 21 November 2026.

The Roman Theatre

The visible structure of the Roman Theatre in Alfama dates to 1 AD. It was built for 4,000 seats. Entry costs €4 ($4.46) and the site closes Mondays like Palácio Pimenta and Santo António.

Casa dos Bicos

Casa dos Bicos is the building with the spiked stone facade, built in the 16th century for Dom Brás de Albuquerque. Its ground floor holds the museum's archaeological centre, and entry to that floor is free. The upper floors belong to the Fundação José Saramago.

Casa dos Bicos opens Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays, the mirror image of the other sites. The €8 ($8.92) joint ticket covers the Roman Theatre and Santo António along with Palácio Pimenta.

To Campo Grande

Palácio Pimenta stands at Campo Grande 245, 1700-091 Lisboa, in the north of the city. It is a short walk from the Campo Grande metro station.

The Alfama sites are a different story. The Roman Theatre, Santo António and Casa dos Bicos all stand in the oldest quarter of the city, near the Sé cathedral. Plan two outings: one by metro to Campo Grande for the permanent exhibition, one on foot through Alfama for the trio. If you hold a Lisboa Card, the included public transport covers both trips at no extra cost.

Booking Rules

Group visits for 5 or more people must be booked at least 7 days in advance. The booking address is [email protected], and the general information address is [email protected] with the phone number +351 217 513 200. The museum's admission page does not state group rates or guided visit prices, so ask by email when booking.

This rule applies regardless of which site your group targets, since Museu de Lisboa treats its places as one museum. Individual visitors and families under five need no booking and can buy online at museudelisboa.bol.pt or at the door. For families travelling with children, note that up to 12 years old is free at every site.