Starting 5 June 2016, the gardens of São Bento Mansion are open to the public on Sundays, bar those in which visits would collide with the Prime Minister's official schedule. These visits were a result of a protocol between the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Lisbon City Council. Starting on 5 October 2017, the year-long exhibition "Arte em São Bento" (Art in São Bento), also visitable on Sundays, saw the mostly academic art collection in the residence (on loan from several museums in the country) be replaced with works from the Serralves Contemporary Art Museum. The intention is to change the art collections there every year, on 5 October (the anniversary of the Proclamation of the Portuguese Republic).