Visitors to Lisbon’s medieval St. George’s Castle will have to pay a three euro entrance fee from Monday, November 1. Lisbon Câmara approved the measure, which does not apply to city residents, recently.
Entrance to the castle, which attracts about a million visitors a year, has always been free. However, the company that manages the castle claims that, under the new system, it will have more money available to improve and maintain the site and other Lisbon monuments for which it is responsible, and that it will no longer need local government subsidies.
The fee will include entrance to the two attractions inside the castle for which there has always been a charge: the Olisipónia multimedia exhibition on the history of Lisbon and the Câmara Escura periscope viewing of the sights around the city with an English commentary.
October 25 marks exactly 857 years since the first Portuguese King Alfonso Henriques conquered the Castle and Lisbon from the Moors. St. George’s Castle has been a listed National Monument since 1910.
