Monserrate Palace, Sintra, Portugal

The Monserrate Palace is an exotic palatial villa located near Sintra, the traditional summer resort of the Portuguese court.

It was restored in 1858 for Sir Francis Cook, an English baronet created Viscount of Monserrate by King Luís I. The design was influenced by Romanticism and Mudéjar Moorish Revival architecture with Neo-Gothic elements. The eclecticism is a fine example of the Sintra Romanticism, along with other nearby palácios, such as the Pena Palace and the Quinta do Relógio. The Islamic architectural influence is in reference to when the region was a part of the wider Muslim Gharb Al-Andalus until the 13th century.

The terrace leads out into the large park. It is designed in a romantic style with a lake, several springs and fountains, grottoes, and is surrounded by lush greenery with rare species.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Cecilia Torres (5 months ago)
A must visit when in Sintra. The Palace is stunning. It blends Gothic, Arab and Indian influences. The Music Room and the Central Atrium are stunning. And the Park is great to explore with its themed gardens. We strolled through the Fern Valley onto the ruins of a Chapel, then to the Mexican Garden and finally the Rose Garden before we visited the Palace. We stopped to marvel at the great diversity of the plants and show many curiosities to our young son, such as unusual mushrooms and vegetation.

Юлия Шамарина (7 months ago)
Very nice place to walk, enjoy nature and beautiful architecture

Bartłomiej Kukuczka (7 months ago)
Pleasant place to visit, really nice palace but not so monumental like Pena palace. Surrounded by tematical gardens, a bit dried in September.

Yong Chiang Kang (11 months ago)
Beautiful gardens and architecture. minimal furnishings inside Palace.. Perfect for our engagement photoshoot. 7 years ago and still looking through the beautiful photos reminiscing the place.

Shu Guice (13 months ago)
The most beautiful palace and garden. Truely one of a kind you must visit and spend time there. The dome shaped piano room is so impressive and it absolutely blows my pianist daughter away - what a wonderful time and privilege to live in that place and that time. Today's billionaires could not build something more elegant as such no matter how much money they have.

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Lednice Castle

The first historical record of Lednice locality dates from 1222. At that time there stood a Gothic fort with courtyard, which was lent by Czech King Václav I to Austrian nobleman Sigfried Sirotek in 1249.

At the end of the 13th century the Liechtensteins, originally from Styria, became holders of all of Lednice and of nearby Mikulov. They gradually acquired land on both sides of the Moravian-Austrian border. Members of the family most often found fame in military service, during the Renaissance they expanded their estates through economic activity. From the middle of the 15th century members of the family occupied the highest offices in the land. However, the family’s position in Moravia really changed under the brothers Karel, Maximilian, and Gundakar of Liechtenstein. Through marriage Karel and Maximilian acquired the great wealth of the old Moravian dynasty of the Černohorskýs of Boskovice. At that time the brothers, like their father and grandfather, were Lutheran, but they soon converted to Catholicism, thus preparing the ground for their rise in politics. Particularly Karel, who served at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, became hetman of Moravia in 1608, and was later raised to princely status by King Matyas II and awarded the Duchy of Opava.

During the revolt of the Czech nobility he stood on the side of the Habsburgs, and took part in the Battle of White Mountain. After the uprising was defeated in 1620 he systematically acquired property confiscated from some of the rebels, and the Liechtensteins became the wealthiest family in Moravia, rising in status above the Žerotíns. Their enormous land holdings brought them great profits, and eventually allowed them to carry out their grandious building projects here in Lednice.

In the 16th century it was probably Hartmann II of Liechtenstein who had the old medieval water castle torn down and replaced with a Renaissance chateau. At the end of the 17th century the chateau was torn down and a Baroque palace was built, with an extensive formal garden, and a massive riding hall designed by Johann Bernard Fischer von Erlach that still stands in almost unaltered form.

In the mid-18th century the chateau was again renovated, and in 1815 its front tracts that had been part of the Baroque chateau were removed.

The chateau as it looks today dates from 1846-1858, when Prince Alois II decided that Vienna was not suitable for entertaining in the summer, and had Lednice rebuilt into a summer palace in the spirit of English Gothic. The hall on the ground floor would serve to entertain the European aristocracy at sumptuous banquets, and was furnished with carved wood ceilings, wooden panelling, and select furniture, surpassing anything of its kind in Europe.

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