The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, announced this Thursday the rehabilitation of the Burnay Palace, to house the company "Museus e Monumentos de Portugal", created by the Government to manage the museological and architectural heritage.
The Prime Minister said that the Council of Ministers had approved a very significant investment of 26 million euros to reinforce the museum and continue the policy of enhancing cultural heritage. Of this amount, 16 million euros will go towards the rehabilitation of the Burnay Palace where the company will be based Museums and Monuments of Portugal. The remaining 10 million euros of the approved allocation will go towards the purchase of three buildings on Avenida 24 de Julho, which will finally allow the expansion of the National Museum of Ancient Art, which is something very important.
"By restoring the Burnay Palace, we are rehabilitating a building of great value, heavily damaged by the abandonment it has suffered since the ISCSP [Lisbon University's Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences] stopped operating there", he said.
The Prime Minister also said that these investments mean that the reinforcement of the Ministry's budget [for Culture] is not exclusively aimed at funding cultural creation;
The [Culture] Ministry's budget is not only intended to finance cultural creation and the acquisition of works of art, but also to provide the Ministry's bodies with the capacity to act on a permanent basis.