Sintra & Pena Palace

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:04:31 +0000

runtime 5.18 The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its 19th century Romantic architecture, it is a major tourist attraction, with many day-trippers visiting from nearby Lisbon. Attractions include the PalÃ¡cio da Pena (19th c.) and the Castelo dos Mouros (8th/9th c., reconstructed 19th c.) in the Serra de Sintra nature park, and the PalÃ¡cio Nacional de Sintra (largely 15th/16th c.), in the village itself. Also, the whole Sintra Mountain Range (Serra de Sintra) is also a tourist attraction, being one of the biggest green parks in the Lisbon Area. When the earthquake of 1755 devasted Lisbon and all the surrounding region, the convent of the Pena fell in ruins. But the Chapel, with magnificent retable in marble and alabaster attributed to Nicholas of Chanterenne, remained unbroken. These ruins, on top of the steep mountains of Sintra, had astonished the young prince D. Fernando. In 1838, he decided to acquire the old convent, and all the fence involving, the surrounding Castle of Mouros (Castle of Moors) and other quintas (farms) and bushes. Thus, he gave a beginning to his romantic dream: to reconstruct the old convent and to annex a new part to it for complement of this summer residence of the Portuguese Royal Family.

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Sintra & Pena Palace