t was Prince Ferdinand II of Portugal, husband of Queen Mary II of Portugal, who ordered the construction of the palace of Pena in 1836. The prince, a Catholic of German origin, fell in love with the Sintra area on a trip he made with his wife. On this excursion, the royal couple could contemplate the ruins of an old monastery devastated after the earthquake of 1755. The monastery had been of the friars of the Order of St. Jerome and was originally built by King John II and transformed, In a substantial way, by King Manuel I who, fulfilling a promise, ordered the reconstruction of the monastery in honor of Nossa Senhora da Pena and donated it to the order of St. Jerome.
With the earthquake of 1755, the Portuguese capital and the whole area around it was badly damaged. Within this area was the area of Sintra and the mentioned monastery. These ruins only preserved intact the chapel with a magnificent alabaster altarpiece attributed to Nicholas Chanterenne. Fernando de Sajonia (Fernando II) acquired the monastery in 1838 and, along with it, the enormous property of the mountain of Sintra, within which were several villas or the so-called Castle of the Moors (Castelo dos Mouros).
The reconstruction was slow and expensive, but finally it became a lush enclosure in which different styles can be contemplated, ranging from Neo-Gothic to neo-Islamic, through neo-renaissance and pseudomanueline vision that make space a clearly exotic environment. In addition, on the slopes of the mountain was built a magnificent English park that, together with the palace, became an icon of Portuguese architecture.
Soon the palace was adapted like summer residence of the royal family. Numerous royal collections were transferred to the palace, and at the same time rich ornaments were created, ranging from the famous plasters to the oil-painted walls. For all this, Unesco declared Sintra as a World Heritage Site.
Architecture [edit]
This palace seated on large boulders, presents a mixture of architectonic styles totally intentioned. Elements that belong to Neogothic, Neomanueline, neo-Islamic, neo-Renaissance and to a lesser extent colonial architecture can be found. The reason for this is that the romantic mentality of the nineteenth century is enormously fascinated by everything exotic.
Structurally the Palacio da Pena is divided into four main areas:
The external foundations and walls (which will serve to consolidate the implementation of the construction), with two doors, one of which is provided with drawbridge.
The building corresponding to the convent, completely restored. It is located at the highest point of the hill and has been surrounded by battlements and endowed with the Clock Tower.
The courtyard of the arches in front of the chapel, with its walls of Moorish arches.
The palatial area proper with its large cylindrical bastion, its interior is decorated in a cathedral style, according to the fashion of the period. The furniture and ornamentation present in its interior, give a great sample of it.
During construction, despite maintaining the basic structure, alterations were made in almost all places. The secondary cylindrical tower, which was adjacent to the largest, went to the back of the building. The arch of entrance to the convent, flanked by two towers, was decorated with reliefs to imitate the coral.
On this arch, holding an upper window, was placed a figure in relief of a hybrid being half fish half a man, coming out of a shell, with a head covered by hair that becomes a stem of vine, whose branches are held by the Arms of the character. This image reminds one of a man with a beard existing in the choir of the convent of Christ of Tomar, now transformed into an almost demonic being. This set is known as the portico of Triton and was designed by Don Fernando as "an allegory of the creation of the World." This is because the figure shows in some way the relationship between the four elements. To further emphasize the union with the Convent of Tomar, the window on the opposite side of this arch copies a famous Manueline style vase there, Whose authorship is attributed to Diego de Arruda. The set of the various garitas, the terraces at different levels and the lining of the walls with Hispanic-Arab tiles are also important elements of this set.
The floor of the building is quite irregular, since it is conditioned to the mountainous relief of the rock and the existence of a previous construction, the Chapel of Our Lady of Pena. The result is a building with a square nucleus organized around a cloister, and another elongated building. The facades are divided regularly by twists and windows, as well as quadrangular, rectangular.
Triton's Figure
SOURCE TEXT :https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_da_Pena