Queluz Palace, Lisbon, Portugal - SpottingHistory.com

The Palace of Queluz is a Portuguese 18th-century palace located at Queluz in the Lisbon District. One of the last great Rococo buildings to be designed in Europe, the palace was conceived as a summer retreat for Dom Pedro of Braganza, later to become husband and then king consort to his own niece, Queen Maria I. It served as a discreet place of incarceration for Queen Maria as her descent into madness continued in the years following Dom Pedro's death in 1786. Following the destruction by fire of the Ajuda Palace in 1794, Queluz Palace became the official residence of the Portuguese prince regent, John VI, and his family and remained so until the Royal Family fled to the Portuguese colony of Brazil in 1807 following the French invasion of Portugal.

Work on the palace began in 1747 under the architect Mateus Vicente de Oliveira. Despite being far smaller, the palace is often referred to as the Portuguese Versailles. From 1826, the palace slowly fell from favour with the Portuguese sovereigns. In 1908, it became the property of the state. Following a serious fire in 1934, which gutted the interior, the palace was extensively restored, and today is open to the public as a major tourist attraction.

One wing of the palace, the Pavilion of Dona Maria, built between 1785 and 1792 by the architect Manuel Caetano de Sousa, is now a guest house allocated to foreign heads of state visiting Portugal.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Tetyana Husar (4 months ago)
Beautiful place, a lot to see, not many tourists in February. Oranges in the garden are delicious. Just go and pick it up

Sao Alves C. (5 months ago)
A beautiful place for the History lovers, but not only. The gardens provide an amazing walk among natural and human built wonders. You really can't miss it :)

Susan Marsh (5 months ago)
The Palace and gardens of Queluz are amazing and a must see if in Lisbon. The throne room alone is worth the visit. When you see the pictures of how it was before they started the renovations you can appreciate just how much work has been undertaken. Lots of information in English and lots of parking and a modern coffee shop which extended out onto the Palace terrace. We went on a Sunday afternoon in October and spent about 4 hours there. As i say, a must see and located (by car) about 40 minutes away from Lisbon.

Joe Ng (6 months ago)
If you’ve ever been to Versailles or explored any of the palaces in Austria, then this place will remind you of all your other palace adventures. In terms of scale, don’t expect Versailles, or even Schönbrunn in Vienna. Visit with an open mind and in weather for a stroll outside and you’ll be pleasantly surprised that such an experience was even possible half an hour away from downtown Lisbon. I visited in winter and the mild sunny weather was absolutely enchanting for the final stroll through the gardens at the end of the self-guided tour. There are helpful multimedia guides provided free of charge to give your trip context and appreciation.

David Andrews (7 months ago)
Not one of the most famous tourist attractions but absolutely worth visiting. The place has been restored (still some work going on) and includes period pieces of furniture and art. The grounds are spectacular and it is very relaxing to wander through the palace and the grounds. Without even noticing you learn a lot.

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The Moszna Castle is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia. The history of this building begins in the 17th century, although much older cellars were found in the gardens during excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the investigators, including H. Barthel, claimed that those cellars could have been remnants of a presumed Templar castle, but their theory has never been proved. After World War II, further excavations discovered a medieval palisade.

The central part of the castle is an old baroque palace which was partially destroyed by fire on the night of April 2, 1896 and was reconstructed in the same year in its original form by Franz Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. The reconstruction works involved an extension of the residence. The eastern Neogothic-styled wing of the building was built by 1900, along with an adjacent orangery. In 1912-1914, the western wing was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. The architectural form of the castle contains a wide variety of styles, thus it can be generally defined as eclectic.

The height of the building, as well as its numerous turrets and spires, give the impression of verticalism. The whole castle has exactly ninety-nine turrets. Inside, it contains 365 rooms. The castle was twice visited by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. His participation in hunting during his stay at the castle was documented in a hand-written chronicle in 1911 as well as in the following year. The castle in Moszna was the residence of a Silesian family Tiele-Winckler who were industrial magnates, from 1866 until the spring of 1945 when they were forced to move to Germany and the castle was occupied by the Red Army. The period of the Soviet control caused significant damage to the castle's internal fittings in comparison to the minor damage caused by WWII.

After World War II the castle did not have a permanent owner and was the home of various institutions until 1972 when it became a convalescent home. Later it became a Public Health Care Centre for Therapies of Neuroses. Nowadays it can be visited by tourists since the health institution has moved to another building in the neighbourhood. The castle also has a chapel which is used as a concert hall. Since 1998 the castle housed a gallery in which works of various artists are presented at regular exhibitions.

Apart from the castle itself, the entire complex includes a park which has no precise boundaries and includes nearby fields, meadows and a forest. Only the main axis of the park can be characterised as geometrical. Starting from the gate, it leads along the oak and then horse-chestnut avenues, towards the castle. Further on, the park passes into an avenue of lime trees with symmetrical canals running along both sides of the path, lined with a few varieties of rhododendrons. The axis of the park terminates at the base of a former monument of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. On the eastern side of the avenue there is a pond with an islet referred to by the owners as Easter Island. The islet is planted with needle-leaved shrubs and can be reached by a Chinese-styled bridge. The garden, as part of the whole park complex was restored slightly earlier than the castle itself. Preserved documents of 1868 state that the improvement in the garden's aesthetic quality was undertaken by Hubert von Tiele-Winckler.

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