Clérigos Tower received 1.2 million visitors in 2022

The Clérigos Tower received 1.2 million visitors over the past year, said a statement from the Irmandade dos Clérigos, which manages the monument that includes the church, the museum and the bell tower. The number of visitors tripled compared to 2021, however, being 30% below the 2019 values.

With a 70% share of international visitors in the total number of people who have accessed the complex over the past year, the iconic Baroque structure, designed in the 18th century by Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni, and classified as a National Monument since 1910, has proven its valuable place as a tourist attraction of the city and northern region. The Spanish and French led the list of foreign visitors, soon followed by the North American market.

“Although we have maintained the security and protection measures implemented since 2020, with a reduction in the flow of visitors simultaneously within the Church, Museum and Tower, we have reached the end of the year surpassing the barrier of one million tourists”, says the president of the Irmandade dos Clérigos, Father Manuel Fernando.

“In a more detailed analysis of the management of flows and demand for the purchase of access tickets to the Tower, we would have exceeded 1.5 million visitors in 2019 if we had returned to the entry regime of that year”, adds the head of the institution, adding that the 2022 data allowed the Irmandade dos Clérigos to “balance their accounts and consolidate support to the community”.

Some events contributed to the recovery of the tourist flow, such as the launch of several books – among which “A questão sobre Deus é o não saber explicar”, by D. José Tolentino de Mendonça –, the exhibition of the drawings made by Álvaro Siza during the confinement motivated by COVID-19 and the inauguration of the exhibition with the legacies of the presidents of the Irmandade dos Clérigos.

The Irmandade dos Clérigos is a solidarity institution, responsible for the management of the Clérigos architectural ensemble, classified as a National Monument since 1910. The Church and the Tower have been the home of the Irmandade dos Clérigos since March 28, 1748 and, since 2014, the year of its musealization, both the Church, the Tower and the Museum are the scene of a cultural agenda in the areas of music, painting, writing, and photography.