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The chapel
A chapel on the hill became a monastery under Manuel I
The story began in the Middle Ages with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena on the hill above Sintra. Manuel I ordered a monastery built there, donated to the Order of Saint Jerome, with a maximum of eighteen monks.
The ruin
The 1755 earthquake reduced the monastery to ruins
In the 18th century the monastery was severely damaged by lightning. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, shortly afterwards, reduced it to ruins. The chapel, with its works of marble and alabaster, escaped without significant damage.
The palace
King Ferdinand II bought the ruins in 1838 and built a summer palace
In 1838 Ferdinand II acquired the old monastery and the surrounding lands. He had it transformed into a summer residence for the royal family, built between 1842 and 1854 by the German amateur architect Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege.
The styles
The palace mixes Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance
The palace has a profusion of styles, an intentional mixture that includes the Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance. References to other prominent Portuguese buildings, such as the Belém Tower, are also present.
A museum
The state bought the palace in 1889 and made it a museum after 1910
In 1889 the palace was purchased by the Portuguese State. After the Republican Revolution of 1910 it became a national monument and a museum. The last queen of Portugal, Queen Amélia, spent her last night here before leaving in exile.
Day 4, morning
Next is Quinta da Regaleira.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Pena Palace, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.