The ‘Municipal Museum’ housed in the Cais da Vala Real building which includes nine parts detailing seven centuries of the municipality's history, has opened in Salvaterra de Magos, Santarém’s district. The museum was established with the intention of producing a “simple and appealing” timeline of the municipality’s development over the last 700 years, according to the mayor Hélder Esménio.

Visitors will be able to explore themes including agriculture, ethnography, bullfighting, the Tagus River, human occupancy, archaeology, and crafts at the museum. As the mayor shared in a statement, “It is a kind of historical chronology, which goes, for example, from the construction of the church of Salvaterra to the Treaty of Salvaterra, signed between the King of Portugal and the King of Castile, in 1382”.

Moreover, the royal palace, which served as the Portuguese royal family's hunting lodge and house before being destroyed by a fire in 1828, will also have a section of the new infrastructure devoted to it. According to the mayor, by utilising the available historical data, the museum will provide a “historical recreation, in the video, of the palace, from its size to the impact it had on the town”.

Additionally, there is a section in the museum which includes instructional materials meant for younger kids that introduces them to regional cultures, traditions, and habits.


As Hélder Esménio shared, “Children will have a play space where they can interact and stimulate their creativity, and where they will watch history content in a fun and engaging way. We have also published a magazine that we will give to children as a way of complementing the content, with more games and activities, which is also a way for them to take a piece of the museum home with them”.