Visit Buçaco Palace

The Royal Palace is located in the National Forest of Buçaco, parish of Luso, municipality of Mealhada, district of Aveiro in Portugal.The building was designed in the last quarter of the 19th century by the Italian architect Luigi Manini, set designer of the National Theater of São Carlos. There were also interventions, in different phases, by the architects Nicola Bigaglia, Manuel Joaquim Norte Júnior and José Alexandre Soares. It has been classified as a Property of Public Interest since 1996.

The current building, in neomanuelino style, is decorated with panelsof tiles, frescos and paintings alluding to the Epic of the Portuguese Discoveries, all of them signed by some of the great masters of the arts. The structure displays profiles of the Tower of Bethlehem carved in stone of Ançã, motifs of the cloister of the Jeronimos Monastery, some arabesques and blooms of the Convent of Christ, claiming a flowery Gothic with romantic episodes in contrast to austere monastic severity.

Its interior highlights outstanding works of art by Portuguese masters of the time, from the collection of tile panels of master Jorge Colaço, evoking the Lusíadas, Gil Vicente's Autos and the Peninsular War, graceful sculptures by António Gonçalves and Costa Mota, paintings by João Vaz illustrating verses from the maritime epic of Luís Vaz de Camões, frescoes by António Ramalho and paintings by Carlos Reis. The furniture includes Portuguese, Indo-Portuguese and Chinese pieces, highlighted by majestic tapestries. Also noteworthy for the Moorish ceiling, the remarkable floor made with exotic woods and the royal gallery.

Visit the Palacio da Pena - San Pedro de Penaferrim (Sintra)

The Pena National Palace, located in the historic town of Sintra, Parish of San Pedro de Penaferrim (Sintra), represents one of the best architectural expressions of Romanticism in nineteenth-century world. On July 7, 2007 he was elected as one of the seven wonders of Portugal, and indeed the first European romantic palace, built about 30 years before the charismatic Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.
Almost all the Palace is built on huge rocks, and boasts a mix of styles (Gothic, neomanuelino, neo-Islamic, neo-Renaissance art with other suggestions such as India).

Structurally, the Pena Palace is divided into four main areas:

The harness and encircling walls (which served to consolidate the implementation of construction), with two doors, one of which is provided with a drawbridge;

The body, fully restored, the old convent, slightly angled at the top of the hill, thoroughly embattled and the Clock Tower;

The Courtyard of the Arches front of the chapel, with its wall of Moorish arches;

The palace area itself with its round bastion of large, with an interior decorated in the style cathédrale, according to precepts in vogue and motivating key interventions at the level of decorative furniture and decoration in general.

The bow of the body, flanked by two towers, has a colorful decoration in relief to imitate coral. On it, a window, bow window, received at the base, also in relief, a figure of a hybrid, half-fish, half-man, leaving a shell with the head covered by hair that transforms into a trunk vine whose branches are supported by the enigmatic character. This set, known as the porch of Triton, was programmed by D. Fernando, who designed it as a 'gantry Allegoria of the creation of the world ", and seems to condense in symbolic terms the theory of" four elements ".

The building is very irregular and is conditioned by a preexisting building there - the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Pena - and by topography. The result is a roughly rectangular core, organized around a cloister and other elongated.
The facades are divided by bocéis or twisted and fenestrated, more or less regularly, and spans square, rectangular and round arch. The towers and ramparts have rings on top dog or arcatura forming sentry paths, gazebos and terraces. Since the square towers are circular turrets at the corners with conical roofs.
The main facade is lined with polychrome tile pattern and has a balcony at the third floor. At the core square, stand out several broken arches on side walls. A staircase leads to the cloister U, two-storey arcade with full arches in the first and the second shot. Around these have to be some of the main rooms.
On the north side is the chapel, lined with tile pattern with the spacecraft separated from the chancel by web in lignum vitae.
The design of the interiors of the Palace to adapt to the summer residence of the royal family appreciated the excellent stucco work, murals and trompe-l'oeil several coats of tile nineteenth century, integrating the many royal collections in environments where the taste for for collecting and trinket shops are quite clear.

Visit the palace and Regaleira Estate Millions - Sao Martinho (Sintra)

The Regaleira Estate, located in the Parish of Saint Martin (Sintra) in the historical center of Sintra, classified World Heritage by UNESCO, was built in the early twentieth century, the romantic ideal, this fascinating collection of buildings in the middle of forest, is the result of achieving the dreams of its owner, Antonio Augusto Carvalho Monteiro (1848-1920), combined with the talent of the Italian architect-designer Luigi Manini (1848-1936).
Fifth Regaleira presents a magnificent landscape with gardens and buildings, which highlights the Palace of the Million and Holy Trinity Chapel

The culmination of the visit to the Fifth Regaleira, we must rely on the adventure of the Knights Templar, or the ideals of the Master Masons, to descend into the pit initiation by a huge spiral staircase. And, deep down with your feet on an eight-pointed star, is like being immersed in the womb of Mother Earth. Then, we can only go through the dark labyrinth of caves, to reach the light, reflected in lakes amazing.

Visit Monserrate Palace - Sao Martinho (Sintra)

The Monserrate Palace, located in the Parish of Saint Martin (Sintra) and inserted into the Monserrate Park was designed by architect James Knowles and built in 1858 by order of Sir Francis Cook, Viscount Monserrate, while production of the gardens was delivered the painter William Stockdale, the botanist William Nevill and James Burt, a master gardener. This palace was the summer residence of the Cook family, was built on the ruins of the mansion built by the neo-Gothic English merchant Gerard of Visma, who owned the granting of import of Brazil wood in Portugal and was responsible for the first palace Monserrate. William Beckford leased the property in 1793, performing works in the palace, beginning to create a landscaped garden. It's an evocative of Portuguese Romanticism, alongside other palaces in the region, such as the Pena Palace. During the 1920s, the palace was put up for sale, and was finally purchased by the state in 1949.

In the gardens of this palace can be seen various botanical specimens. The Palace is classified as a Public Interest.
The Monserrate Palace was visited by Lord Byron, Anglo-Scottish poet, who wrote the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"on the Palace.

Visit the National Palace - Sao Martinho (Sintra)

The National Palace of Sintra, located in the Parish of Saint Martin (Sintra), also known as Palácio da Vila.

It was one of the royal palaces and today is owned by the Portuguese State, who uses it for purposes of tourism and culture. Urban deployment, its construction began in the fifteenth century.

Presents characteristics of medieval architecture, Gothic, Manuel I, Renaissance and romantic. It is considered an example of organic architecture, the set of bodies apparently separated, although they are part of a whole articulated among themselves, through courtyards, staircases, corridors and galleries.

The palace was used by the Royal Family almost until the end of the monarchy in 1910.

Plant complex, organized into "V" and has spread volume, consists mainly of cobbles, with coverage carried by the four different roofs varied waters.

Characteristic feature of this palace, quickly identified by tourists, is the pair of tall conical chimneys. The main elevation is organized into three sections, with the highest central and retreated to the relatively extreme. There is also an arcade on the ground floor with four arches, surmounted by five mullioned windows and emoludramento limestone. The other fronts of the building show a complex mix reentrant and salient bodies, especially the cubic volume of the Hall of Arms.

The internal compartments are reflected in nuclei arranged around courtyards. Noteworthy are the following: the Archers' Hall, the Hall Moura (or Arab), the Sala das Pegas, the Swan Room, the Hall of Arms, the Hall of the Sirens and the Hall of Audience.

The chapel is rectangular and nave, with walls covered by paintings and decorative wood ceiling. In the kitchen are visible from startups monumental octagonal chimneys. Some magazines call Manueline wing spans of bearing moldings and fireplaces in limestone, characterized by relief decoration.

This Palace is classified as a National Monument.

Visit the Palacio Nacional de Queluz

The National Palace of Queluz is an eighteenth century palace located in the Town of Queluz. This Palace is the last great Rococo buildings in Europe.

He served as a discreet place of incarceration for Queen Maria I, as her madness continued to deteriorate after the death of D. Pedro in 1786. In 1794, Queluz Palace became the official residence of the Portuguese prince regent, the future King John VI and his family. Remained so until the royal family fled to Brazil in 1807 following the French invasion of Portugal. Was classified as a National Monument in 1910.

Visit the Palace of Matos Azambuja - Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Vila Viçosa)

The Palace of Matos Azambuja or house of the Arches, as is commonly known, is a noble building situated in the Parish of Our Lady of Conception of Vila Viçosa County.
It is located near the palace, the convent of the Augustinian Convent of Chagas where the Pousada D. John IV, the Shrine of Our Lady of Conception of Vila Viçosa, and do Castelo Vila Viçosa.
It was built in 1599 by nobles who were possibly related to the House of Braganza, as indicated by its proximity to the Ducal Palace.

Visit the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa - Our Lady of Conception

The Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa, located in the Parish of Our Lady of Conception, is an important monument situated in the Palace Square of the Alentejo town of the district of Evora. Was for centuries the seat of the most serene house of Braganza, an important noble family founded in the fifteenth century, which became the ruling house in Portugal, while on December 1, 1640 the 8th Duke of Braganza was proclaimed King of Portugal (João IV).
The work, led by Jaime, started in 1501 and this time the cloister and the chapel area and the existing rooms of the Armory.
The 5th Duke, D., Theodosius I named Constable of the kingdom, sent in 1535 to expand the Palace for the lavish feasts of the royal marriage in 1537, the Duke built the imposing facade of the palace, clad in marble, Italian style, which today we can admire.
The Palace has a large collection of works of art (paintings, furniture, sculpture, etc. ..), and particularly the noble halls of the first floor, examples of which are the rooms of the Medusa, the Dukes (with pictures of all the dukes up the eighteenth century) on the ceiling) and Hercules, many of them ennobled with beautiful fireplaces of carved marble. Remain particularly vivid in the memory palace of the last two reigns (the result of special predilection that he had the sovereign), as can be seen in the royal chambers and countless examples of the artistic work of King Carlos (watercolor and pastel). The kitchen has one of the largest collections of batteries, kitchen copper. Also important to highlight the Library (with copies very precious) and the armory. The former stables is installed one section of the National Coach Museum, where among other coaches, you can admire the landau carrying the Royal Family on the regicide.