Of Palaces, Paintings, Portugal and Price of Admission

For many years I have enjoyed visiting museums, monuments, and other major landmarks that this wonderful world has to offer. From the spectacular Louvre in Paris, the Getty in Los Angeles, or the Imperial War Museum in London, and even the Mennonite Settlement Museum in Hillsboro, Kansas, I have always enjoyed seeking out what the local culture has to offer in the way of palaces, museums, galleries and related points of interest. (Sidebar—a few weeks ago I took a cab from one train station to another in Paris and the summer crowds at the Louvre were absolutely stunning. Total gridlock!)

Portugal is no exception and boasts many fine exhibitions throughout the country. One of my favorites is Quinta da Regaleira near Sintra, an amazing estate with a palace, grottoes, tunnels, ponds, gardens and terraces. The Palácio Nacional de Queluz is a charming palace with whimsical gardens, a great collection of silver, and a sense that the royal family of Portugal is simply away on holiday. The Gulbenkian Museum is world renowned for its amazing collection of Rembrandts, Rubens and other masters, and boasts a symphony and cultural activities. And amazingly, many of these exhibitions in Portugal are free or very low cost. I recall a few years ago wandering acres of amazing Roman excavations of Conimbriga, of a scale, size and condition rivaling any other site in Europe, and being charged a single Euro! Many other examples abound of free or heavily discounted admissions throughout Portugal. But I have long wondered at the wisdom of what I perceive to be an overly generous pricing system in Portugal for its cultural and historical treasures.

Recently, I visited for the first time Palácio Nacional da Pena above the charming town of Sintra, and wandered the stunning hillside terraces, gardens and pathways that led to one of the most amazing palaces I have ever seen. A whimsical, eclectic and romantic mixture of styles the Pena Palace is a feast for the senses. And as we walked up to the set of small kiosks at the Palace entrance, an amazing thing happened—they charged admission! And for the first time in all of my journeys to Portugal, I paid an admission fee that, while still quite low at 13 euros, was in line with what one pays at other museums in Europe. Clearly, for a palace and grounds of this size, the Pena Palace needs to charge at least this amount to manage its preservation, restoration and heritage. And it was actually a very good thing to see a crew of artisans at Pena carefully working in the main hall to return it to its past glory.

Now, don’t get me wrong, because I like free things. In fact, I love free things and I even have a lecture in my entrepreneurship courses titled “Why spend a dollar when a dime will do?” And I also have a pretty good sense of market forces, competition and proper pricing for goods and services. But I have long felt that Portugal has undervalued its treasures, products, collections, culture and history. As a Californian, I frequently say that in my home state when something hits one hundred years old, we promptly close it and turn it into a museum and charge admission. One of my favorites is Hearst Castle, where I have visited around 20 or more times, and admission is $25 for a fairly limited and highly restricted tour. The Pena Palace gives absolutely nothing away to Hearst Castle!

Not so here—the sense of antiquity, history and culture simply oozes from the pores of Portugal, and yet it is too often not properly recognized by its citizens, let alone the touring masses that are flooding Venice, Rome, London, Athens and other European sites. Even at the current peak tourist season, it is still a fairly simple thing to move around the country. But Portugal needs to understand and value its treasures even more, and do a far better job at marketing them. Being here in August, it is clear that the U.K., Germans and some other northern European nations have figured out the incredible bargain that is warm and sunny Portugal. It is to other markets and populations that Portugal needs to reach out to, for there is much to see, do and experience, and all at rock bottom prices, in this amazing land.