The Clerigos Tower received 1.2 million visitors last year, according to a statement from the Irmandade dos Clérigos, which manages the monument, which includes a church, museum and bell tower. The number of visitors has tripled compared to 2021, but is 30% lower than 2019.
The iconic Baroque structure, designed in the 18th century by the Italian architect Nicolau Nazoni and classified as a national monument since 1910, has a 70% share of foreign visitors of the total number of people who visited the complex in the last year. proved its valuable place as a tourist attraction of the city and the northern region. The Spanish and French topped the list of foreign visitors, followed shortly by the North American market.
“Despite the fact that we have maintained the security and protection measures implemented since 2020, with a reduction in the flow of visitors at the same time in the church, the museum and the tower, we have reached the end of the year, breaking the barrier of one million tourists,” says the president of the Irmandade dos Clérigos, Father Manuel Fernando.
“With a more detailed analysis of flow management and the demand for tickets to enter the tower, we would have exceeded 1.5 million visitors in 2019 if we had returned to the entry mode in that year,” adds the head of the institution, adding that the data for 2022 allowed the Irmandade dos Clérigos to “balance their accounts and consolidate community support”.
Some events contributed to the recovery of the tourist flow, such as the publication of several books, among which “A questo sobre Deus é o não saber explicar” by D. José Tolentino de Mendons, an exhibition of Alvaro’s drawings. Siza during the confinement motivated by COVID-19 and the grand opening of the Irmandade dos Clérigos Presidents Heritage Exhibition.
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 tower have been home to the Irmandade dos Clérigos since March 28, 1748, and since 2014, the year of its of museumization, both the Church, the Tower, and the Museum are the scene of a cultural agenda in the fields of music, painting, writing, and photography.
