Hugo Luís told Lusa news agency that the two projects began at the end of February, with the construction site being set up by the contractor.

In October, the municipality of the district of Lisbon decided to award by direct award the conservation and rehabilitation works of the surroundings and cloisters of the Mafra National Palace for the value of 2.9 ME.

In August, the local authority had launched a 3ME tender for the intervention, but this was deserted.

The intervention has an execution period of 14 months.

In August, the city council launched another public tender worth 2.8 million euros for conservation and restoration works on the basilica and library of the national monument.

The works, with an execution period of 14 months, were awarded for 2.7 ME.

Both projects are financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), which has provided total financing of around 13 million for the monument.

Another intervention at the Mafra National Palace is intended for the permanent installation of the National Music Museum, an investment of seven million euros, the works for which are currently underway.

Mafra has 32 applications approved for the PRR, which represents an investment of 100 ME.

In 2022, the municipality established cooperation with the then Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage to carry out the works.

The most important heritage of the Mafra National Palace is the largest bell complex in the world, with two carillons and 119 bells, divided into hourly bells, liturgy bells and carillon bells, six historic organs and the library.

The monument will also house the National Music Museum, with one of the richest collections of musical instruments in Europe, with a collection comprising a thousand instruments from the 16th to the 20th century, of both classical and popular tradition.

The highlights include the Taskin harpsichord, built in 1782 at the request of King Louis XVI of France, the Stradivarius cello, which belonged to the Portuguese king D. Luís, the piano used by the composer and pianist Franz Liszt when he was on tour in Portugal in 1845, and the Antunes harpsichords from 1758 and 1789, which are national treasures.

The museum also houses several documentary collections and phonographic and iconographic collections.

The Mafra National Palace was classified as a World Cultural Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in July 2019.