In 2025 there were 30 Portuguese municipalities, totaling 308, without any equipment from national cultural networks, according to a study by the Portuguese Observatory of Cultural Activities (OPAC), to which Lusa had access.
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27/06/2026
by
Lusa
O30 municipalities are located “in low or partially low density territories, which accentuates the need for attention by public policies”, reads in the study “National cultural networks of the Ministry of Culture: monitoring indicators 2025”.
Portugal currently has five national social networks – National Network of Public Libraries (RNBP), Portuguese Network of Museums (RPM), Portuguese Network of Arquivos (RPA), Portuguese Theatres and Cineteatros Network (RTCP) and Portuguese Network of Contemporary Art (RPAC) – the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, in conjunction with local administration and, in some cases, with private entities.
Although last year there were 30 municipalities without any equipment, this number fell from 2022. In terms of percentage, in 2022 these municipalities accounted for 14% of the total Portuguese municipalities, which in 2025 was 9.6%.
The OPAC recalls that equipment integrated into the five networks “does not exhaust those of the same type that exist in the country — far from it — only refer to those accredited, i.e. those accepted as members of the networks by meeting a set of criteria that are known and accepted”.
Of the five cultural networks, the National Network of Public Libraries (RNBP), the first to be created in 1986, is “clearly dominant in the national panorama”, both in number (262, in 262 municipalities) and in percentage (85.1%) of municipalities with equipment that are part of it.
This network has “a strong deployment throughout the territory, especially on the continent”, with “rarefaction of libraries in the network more in the municipalities of the interior of the North, in the Intermunicipal Community (CIM) of the Douro, in the Alentejo in the Central Alentejo CIM, and in the Algarve, as well as in the Autonomous Regions” of the Azores and Madeira.
The Portuguese Network of Museums (RPM), created in 2000, which in 2025 had 175 equipment, but in only 96 municipalities, “in all regions of the country, of various tutelages, public and private and types of collections”.
In this network, there is a greater concentration of museums in North and in Greater Lisbon. These two regions concentrate 57.1% of the total equipment.
The municipalities of Lisbon, Porto and Sintra are the most integrated in RPM: 28, 15 and 10, respectively.
The Teatros e Cineteatros Portugueses Network (RTCP), created in 2019, had 103 equipment in 93 municipalities at the end of last year.
According to the OPAC, “there is already a relative spread across the territory, including the two autonomous regions”, although the highest concentration occurs in municipalities of the Centro regions (30.1%), especially in municipalities located in the CIM of Aveiro and Coimbra, and North (24.3%), above all in the Metropolitan Area of Porto, Alto Minho and Ave.
The Portuguese Contemporary Art Network (RPAC), created in 2021, counted at the end of last year with 97 accredited equipment, located in 47 municipalities, “checking the existence of these equipment in municipalities of all regions of the country”.
“ With a higher incidence, there are equipment integrated into RPAC in municipalities in the North (33.0 %), especially those located in the Porto Metropolitan Area. It is followed by Grande Lisboa (22.7%), where the equipment integrated into RPAC is mainly located in the city of Lisbon, and in the Centro region (20.6%), with emphasis on the municipalities of the CIM of the Regions of Coimbra and Aveiro ", reads in the document.
Finally, the Portuguese Network of Arquivos (RPA), created in 2008, had 57 equipment last year, managed by public and private entities, in 40 municipalities.
Most of these equipment are located in Greater Lisbon (29.8%) and North (26.3%), with the two regions concentrating more than half of the network's archives.
The Autonomous Region of the Azores is the only one in Portugal without any equipment in the RPA.
The largest number of files integrated into the network is concentrated in Lisbon (12), followed by Porto and Évora (both with three) and Aveiro and Leiria (with two each).