Portuguese construction firm opens workers-first museum in Braga

In Braga, northern Portugal, the DST Group opens Muzeu—Thought and Contemporary Art DST on 24 April 2026, transforming a former courthouse into a four-floor exhibition space. The museum houses over 1,500 works from the company's private collection, including pieces by Alex Katz, Francesco Clemente, Franz West, and Nan Goldin. Director Helena Mendes Pereira emphasizes the museum as a civic forum for cultural and political discussion. The inaugural exhibition, titled 'Let Us Be Realistic, Let Us Demand the Impossible,' references the May 1968 Paris protests. The museum opens first for company workers only, then to the public on 25 April (Freedom Day, anniversary of the 1974 Carnation Revolution), with free entry for the first week. It closes on 1 May for International Workers' Day. DST Group, founded in the 1940s by Domingos da Silva Teixeira, has long invested in culture, including a biennial, photography award, and scholarships. The museum's industrial aesthetic, designed by architect José Manuel Carvalho Araújo, features 3,000 sq. m of white, factory-like space and a top-floor auditorium for philosophy workshops and jazz listening sessions. A room is dedicated to Anselm Kiefer. Pereira states the museum is not for the elite but for all workers, who receive training to act as guides. Chairman José Teixeira's leftist principles drive the museum's political vision to foster democratic discussion.