7th Santarém Living Statues Festival
Santarém's historic centre becomes an open-air gallery with around 20 living statues recreating traditional Portuguese trades. Over three August nights, the festival also features a brand-new DJ-statue performance at Largo de Marvila.
From 7 to 9 August 2026, Santarém's historic centre comes alive again with the seventh edition of the Living Statues Festival, one of the most anticipated moments of the town's summer programme, part of Verão iN.Santarém 2026. Streets and squares turn into a true living museum, with around 20 artists from Portugal and abroad embodying old trades and figures tied to the Ribatejo region's identity.
Walking through the historic centre, visitors will encounter living statues recreating grocers, shoemakers, carpenters, barbers, water carriers, harvesters and resin tappers, alongside emblematic characters such as the campino (Ribatejo cattle herder), washerwomen, basket makers and newspaper sellers. Each statue is a small capsule of collective memory, rescuing professions that are almost extinct today and offering visitors an immersive, sensory stroll through the streets of Santarém.
One of this edition's biggest novelties takes place on Saturday night, 8 August, when Largo de Marvila hosts a brand-new "DJ-statue" performance, blending the art of the living statue with live music sets to extend the festive atmosphere into the night. Visitors can also join interactive moments, vote for their favourite statue, and try the "Free Pedestals", where children and adults alike can briefly become a living statue themselves.
The festival runs on Friday and Saturday nights (7 and 8 August) from 9:30pm to 11:30pm, and on Sunday, 9 August, in an earlier slot from 5:30pm to 7:30pm to better suit the summer heat and make the experience more comfortable for families. Admission is free, and the route is designed to be enjoyed on foot, weaving through squares, churches and landmark streets of Santarém's historic centre, a National Heritage site.
This event is a great opportunity for visitors to discover Santarém in a different light, combining architectural heritage, performance art and street entertainment in a single stroll. It's recommended to arrive early to secure a good spot near the most popular statues, and to take the chance to also explore the restaurants and viewpoints of the "Capital of Gothic", such as Portas do Sol, overlooking the Tagus River.
