Facts About The National Palace of Pena
-
The National Palace of Pena is a Romanticist castle in São Pedro de Penaferrim, in the municipality of Sintra, on the Portuguese Riviera.
-
The castle’s history started in the Middle Ages when a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena was built on the top of the hill above Sintra. According to tradition, construction occurred after an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
-
Construction of the new palace started in 1840 and the king consort would spend his whole life realizing his dream castle.
-
The Palace was completed in 1885.
-
In 1995, the palace and the rest of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra were classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
-
Palacio Pena translated into English means Feather Place.
-
In 1889 it was purchased by the Portuguese State, and after the Republican Revolution of 1910, it was classified as a national monument and transformed into a museum.
-
Built by German architect Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Schewge, the palace exhibits a blend of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Islamic, Neo-Renaissance, and Neo-Manueline architectural styles.
-
National Palace of Pena is one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.
-
The interiors of the palace are richly decorated with tiles displaying amazing stucco sand Trompe-loeil painted walls.