List of national monuments of Portugal

Subsequently, the region that is today Portugal has been colonized by many civilizations, which have left marks in the territory, constructing markers, defensive structures, homes and places of worship to suit their requirements and means.

The first documented peoples to occupy the western coast of Iberia were the "Ostrimni" recorded in Ancient Latin poetry, whose territory stretched from Galicia (in northwestern Spain) to the Algarve (southern area of Portugal).

Phoenicians also settled in trading posts along the coast and may have had contact with the assumably proto-Celtic Lusitanians, who, along with the Celtic Gallaeci, Celtici, Conii and Turduli became the base of the modern Portuguese ethnicity and culture.

Early Christian influences persisted for several centuries, until the Moors and Arab Berber peoples (from North Africa) invaded the Peninsula, including all of the territory which would eventually become Portugal.

From the northern enclaves (Galicia and Asturias in Portugal's case), the Christian Reconquista began, expanding progressively south towards the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

During these periods, many of the prominent buildings were destroyed, rebuilt, re-purposed and closed on the whims of the monarchy, which progressively used architectural projects to support their power, remember past glories or expand their position in the Iberian Peninsula.

As time goes by, a wide variety of new buildings and groups of structures of varying typologies have been added to the national register of monuments, such modernist architecture, vernacular landscapes, archaeological sites, monastic buildings/structures, historical gardens, and more recently human-built business and industrial establishments.