Painting & masters
Altarpieces by Vasco Fernandes (Grão Vasco), the naturalist painting house museum of Almeida Moreira and five generations of artists at the Casa da Calçada.
Museums in Viseu
Choose museums to visit in Viseu and check opening hours and admission conditions.
- museums
- 12
- free to enter
- 8
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What kind of museum are you after?
Choose a museum based on what you would like to see.
Today is Monday
The eight municipal museums and the Grão Vasco are closed. The Museu Tesouro da Sé and the Museu da Misericórdia, on the Adro da Sé, and the Silgueiros museum are open.
Today is Sunday
The eight municipal museums close on Sundays. The Grão Vasco and the Misericórdia are open, and the Tesouro da Sé opens in the afternoon.
Religious art on the Adro da Sé
Two museums a few metres apart, the only ones that also open on Mondays and Sundays.
Science, park & families
Interactive mineralogy and a viewpoint on Monte de Santa Luzia, plus a 10-hectare estate with contemporary art beside the river Pavia.
Memory, archaeology & traditions
2,500 years of urban life on Rua Direita, the region's archaeology at the Casa do Miradouro, life on the Pavia in the Ribeira and the linen cycle in the villages.
The museums of the municipality
Eight municipal museums, the national museum, the religious art of the Adro da Sé and the traditions of the villages.
Acesso 52 for residents
Closed on Mondays
Grão Vasco National Museum
Tuesday to Sunday: 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00 (last entry at 17:30)
Adro da Sé (Paço dos Três Escalões)
Ticket: €10 · Ticket office: 232 422 049
The region's flagship museum, with national museum status. It holds the altarpieces of Vasco Fernandes (Grão Vasco) and of the masters of Viseu's sixteenth-century workshop.
Open every day
Religious art
Museu Tesouro da Sé (cathedral treasury)
Monday to Saturday: 10:00–13:00 and 14:00–17:30 · Sunday: 14:00–17:30
Adro da Sé (inside the cathedral)
Check the ticket price: 232 423 338
The route through the cathedral takes in the sixteenth-century upper choir, the upper cloister, the chapter house and the canons' walk, with goldsmithing, vestments and sculpture from the twelfth to the twentieth century.
Open every day
Religious art
Museu da Misericórdia
Monday to Friday: 09:30-13:00 and 14:00-18:00 · Saturday and Sunday: 09:30-12:30 and 14:00-18:00
Adro da Sé (Misericórdia church)
Ticket: €2 (students: €1) · 232 441 141
The Santa Casa's museum, in the eighteenth-century church facing the cathedral. More than a hundred pieces on the fourteen works of mercy and the care of the sick.
Free entry
Closed Sun & Mon
Museu Keil Amaral
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm (until 5.30pm from October to March)
Calçada da Vigia 2 (a short walk from the Adro da Sé)
Free entry all year round
In the Casa da Calçada, a listed 18th-century house, five generations of a family devoted to the arts, among them Alfredo Keil, composer of the national anthem. Illustration, tiles, sculpture, silverwork, models and scores.
Free entry
Closed Sun & Mon
City History Museum
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm (until 5.30pm from October to March)
Rua Direita
Free entry all year round
On Rua Direita, Viseu’s medieval thoroughfare. The exhibition “Ícones de Viseu, O Despertar do Museu” explores 2,500 years of the city’s history.
Free entry
Closed Sun & Mon
José Coelho archaeological collection
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm (until 5.30pm from October to March)
Casa do Miradouro, Largo António José Pereira
Free entry all year round
In the Casa do Miradouro, a 16th-century manor house with a garden, the collection of José Coelho, a pioneer of the region's archaeology. Part of the Polo Arqueológico de Viseu António Almeida Henriques.
Free entry
Closed Sun & Mon
Almeida Moreira Municipal Museum
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm (until 5.30pm from October to March)
Rua Soar de Cima (by the Rossio)
Free entry all year round
House museum of Francisco Almeida Moreira, founder of the Museu Grão Vasco. Naturalist painting, sculpture, period furniture and Portuguese faience, in a house by the Jardim das Mães.
Free entry
Closed Sun & Mon
Casa da Ribeira
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm (until 5.30pm from October to March)
Largo de Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Ribeira, by the Pavia)
Free entry all year round
The memory of the river Pavia in the Ribeira, the old mills, the olive press, the washerwomen and the boats, with a space for regional crafts.
Unique in the world
Free entry
Closed Sun & Mon
Museu do Quartzo: Centro de Interpretação Galopim de Carvalho
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm (until 5.30pm from October to March)
Monte de Santa Luzia (between Abraveses and Campo)
Free entry all year round
Conceived by the geologist Galopim de Carvalho and built in the crater of the Monte de Santa Luzia quartz quarry, worked from 1961 to 1986: a museum and viewpoint devoted to mineralogy and the Earth's geological history.
Free entry to the park
Closed Sun & Mon
Quinta da Cruz: contemporary art
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm (until 5.30pm from October to March)
Rua de São Salvador (by the river Pavia)
Free entry to the museum and the park
A contemporary art centre on an estate on the river Pavia, acquired in the late 18th century, with 10 hectares of green space.
Free entry
Outside the city
Closed Sun & Mon
Museu do Linho, Várzea de Calde (linen museum)
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm (until 5.30pm from October to March)
Calçada do Eirô 18, Várzea de Calde (Calde, to the north)
Free entry all year round
In a Beira Alta farmhouse: the yard, the pens, the press, the wine cellar, the kitchen with its oven and the loom where the traditional linen cycle comes full circle.
No freely licensed photograph of this museum yet.
Open on Monday
Outside the city
Silgueiros ethnographic museum
Weekdays, hours to be confirmed by phone · Weekends by appointment
Rua Dr. José Francisco de Assunção 117, Passos de Silgueiros (to the south)
Confirm visiting arrangements: 232 952 001
Run by the Passos de Silgueiros association: costume and accessories, the linen cycle, the seamstress and the barber, games and toys, musical instruments and farm tools.
Opening hours and free admission
Check closing days and admission conditions before you set off.
Sundays and Mondays
The eight municipal museums open Tuesday to Saturday and close on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays; last entry is 20 minutes before closing. On Sundays the Grão Vasco, the Tesouro da Sé and the Misericórdia are open; on Mondays, the Tesouro da Sé, the Misericórdia and the Silgueiros museum. Otherwise there are the Fontelo, the Cava de Viriato and the Ecopista do Dão.
Free municipal museums
The eight museums in the municipal network (Almeida Moreira, Quartzo, Quinta da Cruz, Casa da Ribeira, História da Cidade, Keil Amaral, the José Coelho archaeological collection and the Museu do Linho) have free entry all year round. Those on the Adro da Sé, the Grão Vasco, the Tesouro da Sé and the Misericórdia, charge admission.
The Grão Vasco with Acesso 52
Residents of Portugal have 52 days of free admission per year to Museu Nacional Grão Vasco, on any opening day. Request admission at the ticket office with your ID; on your first visit, also provide your Portuguese tax number (NIF). Free Sunday mornings ended in August 2024.
The two museums outside the city
The Museu do Linho is in Várzea de Calde, to the north, and the Silgueiros ethnographic museum in the south of the municipality. Silgueiros opens Monday to Friday and only receives visitors at weekends by appointment: call before you go (232 952 001).
Recommended cultural circuits
Choose the circuit to suit a morning or a full day.
Walking route • about 4h on foot
Historic heart & great masters
- Start at the Adro da Sé with an unhurried visit to the Museu Nacional Grão Vasco (works by Vasco Fernandes)
- Cross the square to the Museu Tesouro da Sé, in the cathedral, and to the Museu da Misericórdia opposite
- Walk down the Calçada da Vigia to the Museu Keil Amaral, in the Casa da Calçada
- Carry on along Rua Direita to the Museu de História da Cidade
- Finish by the Rossio, at the Almeida Moreira house museum, next to the Porta do Soar
- A break for lunch or a traditional afternoon snack - where to eat
Car / bus circuit • about 3h
Science, nature & contemporary art
- Climb Monte de Santa Luzia to discover the Quartz Museum and take in the panoramic view
- Head down towards São Salvador to stroll through the 10 hectares of the Quinta da Cruz
- Visit the estate's contemporary art exhibitions
- Back into the city past the Casa da Ribeira on the quiet banks of the river Pavia
Outside the city • half a day each
Villages, linen & ethnography
- To the north, Várzea de Calde: the Museu do Linho occupies a farmhouse with press, wine cellar, oven and loom
- To the south, Passos de Silgueiros: the ethnographic museum brings together costume, farm tools and traditional instruments
- These are two detours in opposite directions, pick one a day, not both in a row
- Call before setting off: 232 911 004 (Várzea de Calde) and 232 952 001 (Silgueiros)
Tips for your visit
See how to reach the museums and which have accessible entrances.
Accessibility
The Museu Nacional Grão Vasco has a lift and access to all public areas for people with reduced mobility. The Museu da Misericórdia has three access platforms. For the others, phone before you go.
Transport to museums
The Sé and the Museu Grão Vasco are under 10 minutes' walk from the Rossio (C1 and C2 circuit stop); when it is running, the funicular climbs from the Campo de Viriato to the Adro. For the Museu do Quartzo, some MUV line 15, 16, 18 and 20 services stop at Pascoal, about 1 km away, and you walk the rest; for the Quinta da Cruz, line 2, via São Salvador. Some line 21 services reach Passos de Silgueiros; for Várzea de Calde, you will need a car.
A food break
Between museums in the historic centre, try a Viriato pastry on Rua Direita or relax on a terrace in the Rossio.
See where to eat in ViseuWhat about the Museu do Falso?
It isn't a museum you can visit. Created in Viseu in 2012 by Rui Macário, it is an art project of "almost true" pieces about the city's history. It has no premises of its own: it lives mostly online and turns up now and then in temporary exhibitions.
See the Museu do Falso websiteAfter the museums
Five guides to carry on with the visit.
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