Palácio Nacional de Mafra
This palace is a work of extraordinary discipline, grandeur, and majesty. At the peak of its 13-year construction, it reputedly employed 50,000; a small town was built just to house the workers. Its master model was El Escorial, the Daedalian maze constructed by Philip II outside Madrid. Mafra's might not be as impressive or as labyrinthine, but the diversity of its contents is amazing. Its 880 rooms housed 300 friars who could look through 4,500 doorways and windows.
The summer residence of kings, Mafra, 40km (25 miles) northwest of Lisbon, was home to the banished queen Carlota Joaquina. In addition to having a love of painting, Carlos I, the Bragança king assassinated at Praça do Comércio in 1908, was an avid hunter. In one room he had chandeliers made out of antlers and upholstery of animal skins. His son, who ruled for 2 years as Manuel II, spent his last night on Portuguese soil at Mafra before fleeing to England with his mother, Amélia.
Two towers hold more than 110 chimes, made in Antwerp, Belgium, that can be heard for up to 24km (15 miles) when they're played at Sunday recital. The towers flank a basilica, capped by a dome that has been compared to that of St. Paul's in London. The church contains an assortment of chapels, 11 in all, expertly crafted with detailed jasper reredos, bas-reliefs, and marble statues from Italy. The monastery holds the pride of Mafra, a 40,000-volume library with tomes hundreds of years old -- many gold-leafed. Viewed by some more favorably than the world-famous library at Coimbra, the room is a study in gilded light. The collection of elaborately decorated vestments in the Museum of Religious Art here is outstanding.
This palace is a work of extraordinary discipline, grandeur, and majesty. At the peak of its 13-year construction, it reputedly employed 50,000; a small town was built just to house the workers. Its master model was El Escorial, the Daedalian maze constructed by Philip II outside Madrid. Mafra's might not be as impressive or as labyrinthine, but the diversity of its contents is amazing. Its 880 rooms housed 300 friars who could look through 4,500 doorways and windows.
The summer residence of kings, Mafra, 40km (25 miles) northwest of Lisbon, was home to the banished queen Carlota Joaquina. In addition to having a love of painting, Carlos I, the Bragança king assassinated at Praça do Comércio in 1908, was an avid hunter. In one room he had chandeliers made out of antlers and upholstery of animal skins. His son, who ruled for 2 years as Manuel II, spent his last night on Portuguese soil at Mafra before fleeing to England with his mother, Amélia.
Two towers hold more than 110 chimes, made in Antwerp, Belgium, that can be heard for up to 24km (15 miles) when they're played at Sunday recital. The towers flank a basilica, capped by a dome that has been compared to that of St. Paul's in London. The church contains an assortment of chapels, 11 in all, expertly crafted with detailed jasper reredos, bas-reliefs, and marble statues from Italy. The monastery holds the pride of Mafra, a 40,000-volume library with tomes hundreds of years old -- many gold-leafed. Viewed by some more favorably than the world-famous library at Coimbra, the room is a study in gilded light. The collection of elaborately decorated vestments in the Museum of Religious Art here is outstanding.
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