Uncover Lisbon's hidden history: free tours to 32 monasteries kick off this May

Free tours of Portuguese monasteries organized by the town hall will commence on May 24 and will span four days. During these days, you can visit these sites independently or in a group of 20 with a guide.

- Most of the monasteries in the capital that are visible today no longer serve religious functions, as the officials explain. - These structures are vacant or house museums, such as puppet or ceramic tile museums.

One of the few of the 32 monasteries in the capital still inhabited by monks is the 20th-century Convento de Sao Domingos. Located near the Benfica club stadium, several Dominican fathers reside there.

- The vacant sacred structures in Lisbon are products of rooting out orders from traditionally Catholic Portugal that has been progressing since the 18th century, explained PAP Miguel Monteiro, a Lisbon monument expert and Catholic activist. He recollected that as early as the 18th century, Prime Minister Markiz de Pombal fought against religious congregations in Portugal, particularly the Jesuits.

- Additional persecutions of the orders happened during the early years after the fall of the monarchy in 1910. The conservative Salazarist governments then obstructed them, noted Monteiro.

A resident of the capital noted that after the carnation revolution in 1974 and the country's democratization, a strong process of secularizing Portuguese society ensued.

- This led to a significant decrease in the number of believers attending the temples, he narrated. - Currently, less than half of the Portuguese attend Sunday masses.