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The Palácio da Pena (in English: "Pena Palace") on an overcast day, viewed from the Pena Park, Sintra, Portugal
Some background information:
The Palácio da Pena is a Romanticist castle in São Pedro de Penaferrim, in the Portuguese municipality of Sintra, located about 30 kilmetres (18.6 miles) to the northwest of the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon. The castle stands on the top of a hill in the Sintra Mountains above the town of Sintra, and on a clear day it can be easily seen from Lisbon and much of its metropolitan area. It is a national monument and constitutes one of the major expressions of 19th-century Romanticism in the world. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the so-called Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is also used for state occasions by the President of the Portuguese Republic and other government officials.
The castle's history started in the Middle Ages when a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena was built on the top of the hill above Sintra. According to tradition, construction occurred after an apparition of the Virgin Mary. In 1493, John II, accompanied by his wife Leonor of Viseu, made a pilgrimage to the site to fulfill a vow. His successor, Manuel I, was also very fond of this sanctuary, and ordered the construction of a monastery on this site which was donated to the Order of Saint Jerome. For centuries Pena was a small, quiet place for meditation, which housed just a maximum of eighteen monks.
In the 18th century, the monastery was severely damaged by lightning. However, it was the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, occurring shortly afterwards, that took the heaviest toll on the monastery, reducing it to ruins. Nonetheless, the chapel escaped without significant damage. For many decades the ruins remained untouched, but they still astonished young Prince Ferdinand. In 1838, as Ferdinand II, King of Portugal, he decided to acquire the old monastery, all of the surrounding lands, the nearby Castle of the Moors and a few other estates in the area. Ferdinand II then set out to transform the remains of the monastery into a palace that would serve as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family.
The commission for the Romantic style palace was given to the German mining engineer and architect Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege. The construction took place between 1842 and 1854, although it was almost completed in 1847. King Ferdinand and Queen Maria II intervened decisively on matters of decoration and symbolism. Among others, the King suggested vault arches, medieval and Islamic elements to be included, and he also designed an ornate window for the main façade.
After the death of Ferdinand the palace passed into the possession of his second wife Elisa Hensler, Countess of Edla. The latter then sold the palace to King Luís, who wanted to retrieve it for the royal family, and thereafter the huge building was frequently used by the family. In 1889 it was purchased by the Portuguese State, and after the Republican Revolution of 1910 it was classified as a national monument and transformed into a museum. The last queen of Portugal, Queen Amélia, spent her last night at the palace before leaving the country in exile.
The palace quickly drew visitors and became one of Portugal's most visited monuments. Over time the colors of the red and yellow façades faded, and for many years the palace was visually identified as being entirely gray. By the end of the 20th century the palace was repainted and the original colors restored. In 1995, the palace and the rest of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra were classified as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
The Palácio da Pena has a profusion of styles much in accordance with the exotic taste of the Romanticism. The intentional mixture of eclectic styles includes the Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance. Much of this has been evident since major renovations in the 1840s. References to other prominent Portuguese buildings, such as the Belém Tower, are also present.
The Palácio da Pena is completely surrounded by the Pena Park, a vast forested area spreading for over 200 hectares of uneven terrain. The park was created at the same time as the palace by King Ferdinand II, who was assisted in this task by the barons von Eschwege and von Kessler. The exotic taste of the Romanticism was applied to the park as it was to the palace.
The King ordered trees from diverse, distant lands to be planted there. Those included North American sequoia, Lawson's cypress, magnolia and Western redcedar, Chinese ginkgo, Japanese Cryptomeria, and a wide variety of ferns and tree ferns from Australia and New Zealand, concentrated in the Queen's Fern Garden (Feteira da Rainha). The park has a labyrinthic system of paths and narrow roads, connecting the palace to the many points of interest throughout the park, as well as to its two gated exits.
Well, usually I obstain from stating my own opinion about a location, but this time, I have to: The Palácio da Pena is truly a great sight, but was it worth the trip? No, not at all: 1) The palace is in rather poor condition, with the colour peeling off from the walls and the interior being in desperate need of restoration. 2) The incredible rush of visitors made it one of the most constricting experiences, I ever underwent. And although visitors have to book a time slot for their visit, I couldn’t avoid the impression that all time slots were absolutely overbooked. In my opinion, just a quarter of the visitors would still have been too much.
3) Because of that, visitors have to queue up for quite a long time to get inside and afterwards walk in single file through the palace, always being in physical contact with each other. And 4) the signposting in the park is a complete disaster and practically non-existent. So be careful, as you might get lost in the park. All in all, I can only give you the advice, to forgo the Palácio da Pena. For me and my wife, it was a rather bitter disappointment.
A little stone bridge in the Pena Park, which surrounds the Palácio da Pena (in English: "Pena Palace"), Sintra, Portugal
Some background information:
The Palácio da Pena is a Romanticist castle in São Pedro de Penaferrim, in the Portuguese municipality of Sintra, located about 30 kilmetres (18.6 miles) to the northwest of the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon. The castle stands on the top of a hill in the Sintra Mountains above the town of Sintra, and on a clear day it can be easily seen from Lisbon and much of its metropolitan area. It is a national monument and constitutes one of the major expressions of 19th-century Romanticism in the world. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the so-called Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is also used for state occasions by the President of the Portuguese Republic and other government officials.
The castle's history started in the Middle Ages when a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena was built on the top of the hill above Sintra. According to tradition, construction occurred after an apparition of the Virgin Mary. In 1493, John II, accompanied by his wife Leonor of Viseu, made a pilgrimage to the site to fulfill a vow. His successor, Manuel I, was also very fond of this sanctuary, and ordered the construction of a monastery on this site which was donated to the Order of Saint Jerome. For centuries Pena was a small, quiet place for meditation, which housed just a maximum of eighteen monks.
In the 18th century, the monastery was severely damaged by lightning. However, it was the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, occurring shortly afterwards, that took the heaviest toll on the monastery, reducing it to ruins. Nonetheless, the chapel escaped without significant damage. For many decades the ruins remained untouched, but they still astonished young Prince Ferdinand. In 1838, as Ferdinand II, King of Portugal, he decided to acquire the old monastery, all of the surrounding lands, the nearby Castle of the Moors and a few other estates in the area. Ferdinand II then set out to transform the remains of the monastery into a palace that would serve as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family.
The commission for the Romantic style palace was given to the German mining engineer and architect Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege. The construction took place between 1842 and 1854, although it was almost completed in 1847. King Ferdinand and Queen Maria II intervened decisively on matters of decoration and symbolism. Among others, the King suggested vault arches, medieval and Islamic elements to be included, and he also designed an ornate window for the main façade.
After the death of Ferdinand the palace passed into the possession of his second wife Elisa Hensler, Countess of Edla. The latter then sold the palace to King Luís, who wanted to retrieve it for the royal family, and thereafter the huge building was frequently used by the family. In 1889 it was purchased by the Portuguese State, and after the Republican Revolution of 1910 it was classified as a national monument and transformed into a museum. The last queen of Portugal, Queen Amélia, spent her last night at the palace before leaving the country in exile.
The palace quickly drew visitors and became one of Portugal's most visited monuments. Over time the colors of the red and yellow façades faded, and for many years the palace was visually identified as being entirely gray. By the end of the 20th century the palace was repainted and the original colors restored. In 1995, the palace and the rest of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra were classified as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
The Palácio da Pena has a profusion of styles much in accordance with the exotic taste of the Romanticism. The intentional mixture of eclectic styles includes the Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance. Much of this has been evident since major renovations in the 1840s. References to other prominent Portuguese buildings, such as the Belém Tower, are also present.
The Palácio da Pena is completely surrounded by the Pena Park, a vast forested area spreading for over 200 hectares of uneven terrain. The park was created at the same time as the palace by King Ferdinand II, who was assisted in this task by the barons von Eschwege and von Kessler. The exotic taste of the Romanticism was applied to the park as it was to the palace.
The King ordered trees from diverse, distant lands to be planted there. Those included North American sequoia, Lawson's cypress, magnolia and Western redcedar, Chinese ginkgo, Japanese Cryptomeria, and a wide variety of ferns and tree ferns from Australia and New Zealand, concentrated in the Queen's Fern Garden (Feteira da Rainha). The park has a labyrinthic system of paths and narrow roads, connecting the palace to the many points of interest throughout the park, as well as to its two gated exits.
Well, usually I obstain from stating my own opinion about a location, but this time, I have to: The Palácio da Pena is truly a great sight, but was it worth the trip? No, not at all: 1) The palace is in rather poor condition, with the colour peeling off from the walls and the interior being in desperate need of restoration. 2) The incredible rush of visitors made it one of the most constricting experiences, I ever underwent. And although visitors have to book a time slot for their visit, I couldn’t avoid the impression that all time slots were absolutely overbooked. In my opinion, just a quarter of the visitors would still have been too much.
3) Because of that, visitors have to queue up for quite a long time to get inside and afterwards walk in single file through the palace, always being in physical contact with each other. And 4) the signposting in the park is a complete disaster and practically non-existent. So be careful, as you might get lost in the park. All in all, I can only give you the advice, to forgo the Palácio da Pena. For me and my wife, it was a rather bitter disappointment.
