The Bissaya Barreto Foundation (FBB) which manages the space found alongside the Mondego River in downtown Coimbra has pledged to spend the next year or so focussed on the building of new structures in a bid to ensure the venue does not “stop in time”.
The monuments which are to be added to the space are still up for debate, but any built after the mid-1960s will qualify alongside the building of more typically regional houses.
The park, and perhaps due to the lack of any additions in more than a generation, has seen the number of visitors record a steady fall, which has been more notable the past five years.
According to latest figures, 228,000 people visited Portugal dos Pequenitos in 2014, down almost 20 percent from the 283,000 who walked through the turnstiles a decade ago.
The venue says that most people visit the park three times in a lifetime; as a child, a parent and a grandparent, a situation they are hoping to challenge with the focus turning on more regular updates to the site.