Museums in LisbonMuseu do Dinheiro: Lisbon's Money Museum
The Museu do Dinheiro is the Banco de Portugal's money museum, set in the former church of São Julião in the Baixa. Entry is free. The permanent exhibition runs across nine interactive rooms, and the crypt holds King Dinis' Wall, the only known remnant of Lisbon's medieval wall. The museum opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, with last admission at 17:30, and closes on Monday and Tuesday. This page covers the hours, the free entry rule, the highlights, the medieval wall and how to plan a visit. For the full shortlist of museums in Lisbon, start at Museums in Lisbon.
A gallery in the Museu do Dinheiro, inside the former São Julião church, Lisbon. Photo: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Quick answer The short answer
The Museu do Dinheiro is free and opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00-18:00, with last entry at 17:30. It closes on Monday and Tuesday. The museum sits in the former São Julião church at Largo de São Julião in the Baixa.
Key takeaways
- Entry costs nothing and no booking is needed, so it is one of the easiest free museums in Lisbon.
- No visit duration is published. Hour details are in the key facts below.
- The museum is closed Monday and Tuesday. For sites that open those days, see the Lisboa Card for Museums.
- Pair it with the Lisboa Story Centre on Praça do Comércio.
Key Facts for Visitors
Open, per the museum's own published hours of Wednesday to Sunday. Confirm by phone on +351 213 213 240 before travelling.
Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, last admission 17:30.
Monday and Tuesday. Visit Lisboa prints shorter weekend hours, 10:00-13:00 on Saturday and Sunday, which the museum's own site contradicts.
Free. There is no ticket to buy on site or online.
No duration is published.
Largo de São Julião, 1100-150 Lisboa, in the Baixa next to Praça do Município.
The Museu do Dinheiro does not appear on the Lisboa Card list, and it is free anyway, so the card adds nothing here.
Museu do Dinheiro at a Glance
The Banco de Portugal runs the Museu do Dinheiro inside the former church of São Julião at Largo de São Julião, 1100-150 Lisboa. Admission is free and the permanent exhibition fills nine interactive rooms.
The Essentials
The museum opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00 and admits the last visitor at 17:30. Monday and Tuesday are closed days. Entry is free every opening day, with no advance purchase. The building stands next to Praça do Município in the Baixa. The exhibition is interactive, and the opening room has a gold bar you can touch.
The Museu de Lisboa and the Lisboa Story Centre have their own pages with hours and tickets.
One Number to Call
Listings disagree on the weekend hours. Visit Lisboa still prints Wednesday to Friday 10:00-18:00 and Saturday and Sunday 10:00-13:00. The museum's own site header says Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 with last admission at 17:30.
If your visit falls on a weekend morning, call +351 213 213 240 and confirm before you set out. The same number books guided visits.
Source: Museu do Dinheiro, Visit Lisboa.
Opening Hours and Closed Days
Two published schedules clash, and the museum's own schedule is the one to follow. The table shows each source.
The Two Schedules Side by Side
The table below sets the museum's own published hours against the shorter Visit Lisboa listing. Where they differ, the museum's own site is the authority. The practical rule is simple: Wednesday to Friday, both sources agree the museum runs 10:00 to 18:00.
On Saturday and Sunday, the museum claims a full day and Visit Lisboa claims a morning-only half day, so weekend mornings are the slot to verify by phone on +351 213 213 240.
| Source | Days | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Museu do Dinheiro (own site) | Wednesday to Sunday | 10:00-18:00, last admission 17:30 |
| Visit Lisboa listing | Wednesday to Friday | 10:00-18:00 |
| Visit Lisboa listing | Saturday and Sunday | 10:00-13:00 |
| All sources | Monday and Tuesday | Closed |
Free Entry, No Ticket and No Card Needed
Admission costs nothing on any opening day. No ticket is listed here for the Museu do Dinheiro because entry is free, and the Lisboa Card for Museums does not list the museum either. For the wider picture on zero-cost visits, the page on free museums in Lisbon sorts the city's gratis options in one list.
Source: Museu do Dinheiro, Visit Lisboa.
Money Museum, Lisbon: The History of Coins and the Development of Societies.
A look inside on video. Third-party video by Lusideias. This site did not shoot it and has no relationship with the creator.
The Medieval Wall in the Crypt
The best reason to come may sit under your feet: a stretch of King Dinis' Wall, the only known remnant of Lisbon's medieval city wall.
A Wall Buried for More Than 250 Years
King Dinis ordered the wall at the end of the 13th century. It was buried after the 1755 earthquake for over 250 years. Workers uncovered the masonry in 2010 during works on the Banco de Portugal's head office. The wall is classed as a national monument.
Today the wall is shown inside an interpretation centre fitted into the crypt of the São Julião church. The crypt is part of the same free visit as the exhibition.
Source: Museu do Dinheiro, King Dinis' Wall.
A bank vault door on display in the Museu do Dinheiro, Lisbon. Photo: Joseolgon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What You See in the Nine Rooms
The permanent exhibition runs across nine thematic rooms, built around interactive and multimedia displays rather than glass cases.
The Circuit, Room by Room
The exhibition is organised into rooms named Touch, Bartering, Conventions, Coins with History, Through the Ages, Making Money and others. The visit opens with the touchable gold bar framed by the old vault door. The Making Money room covers how coins and banknotes are produced
- Touch: the opening room, built around the gold bar and vault door
- Bartering
- Conventions
- Coins with History and Through the Ages
- Making Money
The Pieces Worth Finding
Three objects to look for. The Morabitino of D. Sancho II is a unique piece. The collection includes the Alves dos Reis 500-escudo banknote.
The Lydian electrum Terço de estáter is also on show. The 12.6 kg gold bar, 99.9 percent pure, can be touched and opens the visit.
The Church of São Julião
The museum's shell is a church with its own tangled history, rebuilt after catastrophe and opened as a museum in 2016.
From Earthquake to Museum
The church of São Julião was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake and rebuilt, with the work finished in 1802. Fire gutted it again in 1816. The Banco de Portugal bought the building, with the deed signed in 1933. Architects Gonçalo Byrne and João Pedro Falcão de Campos restored the structure between 2007 and 2012, preparing it for a new life.
The museum opened on 19 April 2016 and was named Best Museum of the Year 2017 by APOM, the Portuguese museum association. The old vault door frames the opening display.
Source: Visit Lisboa.
How to Get There
The museum stands at Largo de São Julião, 1100-150 Lisboa, in the Baixa next to Praça do Município.
Finding the Door
The address is Largo de São Julião, 1100-150 Lisboa. The square sits beside Praça do Município, in the Baixa. No walking times are published, so use a route app for the leg.
If you are building a full day around the district, the routes on the Museums in Lisbon homepage are grouped by area.
Source: Museu do Dinheiro.
Guided Visits and Groups
Groups and guided activities are booked directly with the museum, by phone or email, on its own schedule.
Booking a Visit
Guided tours and activities are booked by phone on +351 213 213 240, Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, or by email to info@museudodinheiro.pt. When you book, the museum asks you to give the day and time you want, the size of the group, the age group and any special needs. Have those details ready before you call or write.
Individual walk-in visitors need no booking at all, since admission is free and unticketed. Groups, school parties and visitors wanting a guided circuit are the ones who should arrange ahead.
Source: Museu do Dinheiro, book a visit.
Combine It With Other Museums
Two other museums have their own pages and are easy to add to a day.
What to Pair It with
The obvious companions are the Museu de Lisboa, which tells the city's story across several sites, and the Lisboa Story Centre on Praça do Comércio, a 60-minute audio-guided circuit through Lisbon's history. For the full zero-cost shortlist across the city, the page on free museums in Lisbon does the sorting for you.
Mind the closed days when you plan. The Money Museum itself shuts Monday and Tuesday, and the Museu de Lisboa is also in the Monday-closed group, so Wednesday to Sunday is the window when both are open. If you find yourself in Lisbon on a Monday or Tuesday and still want museums, the pass page on the Lisboa Card for Museums lists which sites open and which stay dark.
Source: Visit Lisboa.
Do and Don't
Do
- Do call +351 213 213 240 if you plan a weekend morning visit, because Visit Lisboa prints Saturday and Sunday hours of 10:00-13:00 that the museum's own site contradicts.
- Do go down to the crypt, because King Dinis' Wall is the only known remnant of Lisbon's medieval wall and sits inside the same free visit.
- Do lift the gold bar, because the 12.6 kg, 99.9 percent pure bar is made to be touched.
- Do book ahead by email to info@museudodinheiro.pt if you are a group, giving day, time, group size, age group and any special needs as the museum requests.
- Do look at the Lisboa Story Centre or Museu de Lisboa for the same day, because both are open Wednesday to Sunday.
Don't
- Don't come on Monday or Tuesday, because the museum is closed both days.
- Don't buy a Lisboa Card for this museum, because it does not appear on the card's list and admission is free anyway.
- Don't arrive after 17:30, because that is the published last admission time.
- Don't rely on a single listing for weekend hours, because the museum's own published schedule, Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, differs from Visit Lisboa's.
Questions About the Museu do Dinheiro
Is the Museu do Dinheiro free?
Yes, admission is free on every opening day, with no ticket purchase on site or online. That makes it one of the anchor stops on the page of free museums in Lisbon.
Which days is the Museu do Dinheiro closed?
The museum closes on Monday and Tuesday. Its own published schedule runs Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00-18:00 with last admission at 17:30, which you can compare with other sites on the Lisboa Card for Museums page.
Where is the Museu do Dinheiro and how do I get there?
It stands at Largo de São Julião, 1100-150 Lisboa, in the former church of São Julião next to Praça do Município in the Baixa. No walking times are published, so use a route app. The Lisboa Story Centre is on Praça do Comércio.
What is King Dinis' Wall?
It is the only known remnant of Lisbon's medieval wall, a national monument ordered at the end of the 13th century, buried after the 1755 earthquake and uncovered in 2010. An interpretation centre shows it in the church crypt.
Does the Lisboa Card cover the Museu do Dinheiro?
The card does not list the museum, and it would add nothing here because entry is already free. Save the card for paid sites, as covered on the Lisboa Card for Museums page.
How do I book a guided visit or bring a group?
Phone +351 213 213 240, Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, or email info@museudodinheiro.pt, giving the day, time, group size, age group and any special needs. Walk-in individuals need no booking, so you can add the museum freely to any day built around the museums in Lisbon.