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 (13 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 (15 months ago)
Very nice place to walk, enjoy nature and beautiful architecture

Bartłomiej Kukuczka (15 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 (19 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 (21 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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Les Invalides is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building"s original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l"Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d"Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the burial site for some of France"s war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte.

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Shortly after the veterans" chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme from its most striking feature. Inspired by St. Peter"s Basilica in Rome, the original for all Baroque domes, it is one of the triumphs of French Baroque architecture. The domed chapel is centrally placed to dominate the court of honour. It was finished in 1708.

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The building retained its primary function of a retirement home and hospital for military veterans until the early twentieth century. In 1872 the musée d"artillerie (Artillery Museum) was located within the building to be joined by the Historical Museum of the Armies in 1896. The two institutions were merged to form the present musée de l"armée in 1905. At the same time the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centres outside Paris. The reason was that the adoption of a mainly conscript army, after 1872, meant a substantial reduction in the numbers of veterans having the twenty or more years of military service formerly required to enter the Hôpital des Invalides. The building accordingly became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex does however still include the facilities detailed below for about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers.

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