Tomar, a centre belonging to the district of Santarém, in the Centro region and intermunicipal community of Medio Tejo, crossed by the Nabão River, a tributary of the Cécere river located in one the most fertile areas of Portugal is a captivating destination with its landmarks attracting over half a million tourists.
The town of Tomar was created inside the medieval walls protecting o the Convento de Cristo, developed under the orders of Gualdim de Pais, the fourth Grand Master of the Knights Templar in Portugal in the late 12th century consolidating itself as one of the most important sites of the Templar History in the whole whole world, since it has preserved an imposing castle and church practically intact.
The order of the Temple existed from 1118 to 1308, when the Pope extinguished it and deprived it of its assets but leaving important cultural and historical marks as in Tomar which was able to preserve this relevant heritage.
Monuments and cultural spaces in Tomar in Tomar registered more than half a million tourists in 2024 and in a press release the Tomar city Council reported on the visitors it received last year, indicating that, in visits museums facilities and monuments managed by the municipality there was an increase of around 7% in entries compared to 2023 totaling close 200.000 visits.
In 2024, 195.540 visitors were registered in the cultural facilities managed by the municipality of Tomar, while in 2023, the year of the "Festa dos Tabuleiros" also known as "Festa do Espirito Santo", a traditional festival that takes place in Tomar every four years, at the beginning of July, with young people carrying trays decorated with bread, flowers and other symbols, there were 182.126 visitors and in 2022, 134.071 were registered.
Of the 195.540 visitors to Tomar's municipality managed cultural facilities in 2024, 112.408 were Portuguese tourists and 83.132 were international visitors with 21.52% coming from the United States of America, 14.62% form Spain, 11.98% from France and 9.89% from Brazil.
In a statement, Tomar City Council indicates that the number of visitors in 2024 is very significant and reveals how the city has seen increased tourist demand regardless of the Convent of Christ, originally a 12th century Templar stronghold, an artistic masterpiece which boast in its structure elements of Gothic, Manueline, Renaissance and Romanesque architecture styles.
The number of the visits of the Convent are not included in the calculation, since that monument, a World Heritage Site, is not under the supervision of the municipality.
The Lusa News Agency contacted the management of the Convent of Christ, managed by Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, that with an official source indicated that the figure for 2024 have not been released by the authority, but exceed the 311.879 visitors registered in 2023.
Among the cultural facilities managed by the municipality of Tomar, the medieval Synagogue completed in Gothic style in 1460 and active until 1496, declared a National Portuguese Monument, with a total of registered 47.841 entries, of which 28.943 were from international visitors.
The Synagogue Interpretive Center also maintained this trend, with a total of 27.096 visits, of which 15.336 were from tourists coming from abroad.
The second most popular place visited was the Chapel of Santa Iria, erected in the second half of the 15th century, on the site of Santa Iria, by the bank of the Nabão River, which registered s total of 31.261 visitors, with 20.942 being Portuguese tourists.
The Levada Cultural Complex, a collection of beautifully restored 13th century buildings along the Nabão River, originally used as mills of the town and today serving as cultural attraction, showcasing the history and heritage of the region housing the Tomarense Foundry and Power Plant Museum Centres, the Tomar Templário Interpretative Center as well as Moagem A Portuguesa, with the "Fábrica das Artes | Tomar" project, represented 20.9% of the total visits, with 40.848 visitors, spread across the various spaces.
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