The Seixal Municipality started the route in the area of contemporary medals on April 1997 with the first International Exhibition of Contemporary Medals at Seixal, integrated in the celebrations of the 25th April, 1974. The exhibition was at the Augusto Cabrita Gallery, bringing together medals of 21 authors and 3 foreign nationals.

In 1999, the First International Biennial of Contemporary Medal – Seixal took place, attended by 61 authors (23 portuguese and 39 foreign authors) and a total of 167 medals. Since then, the initiative has taken place every two years, always with an increasing number of participants and medals presented.

On October 2004, the quality of work done at Seixal was confirmed with the Art Medal World Congress FIDEM XXIX. Seixal was put at the script of the cities hosting major events in the field of plastic arts, promoting the city as a cultural centre and encouragement of cultural activities and host of academic and artistic community, both nationally and internationally.

The educational area is another side of this work with workshops and guided tours at the exhibitions, aimed particularly at secondary schools, and the artistic expression workshops for the Basic Schools, for promoting arts education and contribute for the discovery of medals.

Another example of this form of action is the Helder Batista Contemporary Medal Prize - Seixal Schools, first held in 2008, allowing the students of primary and secondary schools the direct contact with techniques and ways of making medals, putting them to create small works of art.