Palácio Nacional da Ajuda

Palácio Nacional da Ajuda

The National Palace of Ajuda, is a former palace of the Portuguese royal family and their last official residence. It is now a national monument and is a magnificent museum, the only royal palace that can be visited in Lisbon. The Palace is located at the top of the Ajuda hill, and with an excellent view of the Tejo River. Its construction began shortly after the 1755 earthquake, by architects Manuel Caetano de Sousa, who planned a late Baroque-Rococo building. But over time the project has gone through several changes, and periods when the construction had to be stopped or slowed due to financial constraints, political conflicts, and war. The neoclassical palace that exist today is only a small part of the original plan, which would have been one of Europe’s largest palaces, with gardens pouring down to the river. However, it still has a splendid interior, with several rooms with a magnificent décor.
There are two floors of the palace that are open for visits, making a sizable museum of decorative arts from the 15th to the 20th century. Some of the most impressive rooms are the Banquet Room, Throne Room, Chinese Room, Winter Garden, and the Audience Room. The palace’s western façade is being rebuilt, and once it is done in winter 2018, it will have a permanent exhibition of the Portuguese Crown jewels, one of the largest collections of its kind.

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