Made in PT bringing 560.web3 content to the world.Torre de Belém - en
Versão portuguesa aqui. GPS 38.691652189603964, -9.215969383207815Built on the northern bank of the Tagus between 1514 and 1520 as part of the Tagus estuary defence system, the Tower of Belém is one of the architectural jewels of the reign of Manuel I. In the tower as a whole one can distinguish two distinct volumes and military architectural models: the mediaeval keep tower and the modern bulwark which, as it contained two artillery levels, allowed for long-distance cannon firing as well as ...
Made in PT bringing 560.web3 content to the world.CR7 2023 Edition
Versão portuguesa aqui.Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro born 5 February 1985 is a Portuguese professional football player who plays as a forward for and captains both Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr and the Portugal national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo has won five Ballon d'Or awards and four European Golden Shoes, the most by a European player. He has won 32 trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champion...
Made in PT bringing 560.web3 content to the world.Mosteiro dos Jerónimos - en
Versão portuguesa aqui. GPS 38.698112850075525, -9.206629905588464The Monastery of Santa Maria de Belém, better known as Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, is a Portuguese monastery, built at the end of the 15th century by King D. Manuel I and was entrusted to the Order of São Jerónimo. It is located in the parish of Belém, in the city and municipality of Lisbon. It has, since 2016, the status of National Pantheon. The culmination of Manueline architecture, this monastery is the most notable Portuguese ...
«There is, in the most western part of Iberia, a very strange people: they neither govern nor allow themselves to be governed!»
Made in PT bringing 560.web3 content to the world.Torre de Belém - en
Versão portuguesa aqui. GPS 38.691652189603964, -9.215969383207815Built on the northern bank of the Tagus between 1514 and 1520 as part of the Tagus estuary defence system, the Tower of Belém is one of the architectural jewels of the reign of Manuel I. In the tower as a whole one can distinguish two distinct volumes and military architectural models: the mediaeval keep tower and the modern bulwark which, as it contained two artillery levels, allowed for long-distance cannon firing as well as ...
Made in PT bringing 560.web3 content to the world.CR7 2023 Edition
Versão portuguesa aqui.Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro born 5 February 1985 is a Portuguese professional football player who plays as a forward for and captains both Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr and the Portugal national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo has won five Ballon d'Or awards and four European Golden Shoes, the most by a European player. He has won 32 trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champion...
Made in PT bringing 560.web3 content to the world.Mosteiro dos Jerónimos - en
Versão portuguesa aqui. GPS 38.698112850075525, -9.206629905588464The Monastery of Santa Maria de Belém, better known as Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, is a Portuguese monastery, built at the end of the 15th century by King D. Manuel I and was entrusted to the Order of São Jerónimo. It is located in the parish of Belém, in the city and municipality of Lisbon. It has, since 2016, the status of National Pantheon. The culmination of Manueline architecture, this monastery is the most notable Portuguese ...
«There is, in the most western part of Iberia, a very strange people: they neither govern nor allow themselves to be governed!»
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Versão portuguesa aqui.
GPS 32.64756147761998, -16.910159313468746
The Palácio de São Lourenço is a palace and fortress located in the parish of Sé, in the historic center of the city of Funchal, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, and is currently the official residence of the Representative of the Republic in that archipelago.
It constitutes a monumental complex originally with the double function of fortification and palace, considered as the best and most imposing example of civil and military architecture on the island of Madeira. It comprises the Fortress of São Lourenço, begun in the first half of the 16th century and completed during the Philippine Dynasty, and the Palace itself, including the halls on the main floor dating from the last quarter of the 18th century and the interior gardens.
History
Background
Following the sack of Funchal in 1566, the new master of the Royal Works in Madeira, Mateus Fernandes (III), carried out the expansion of the old bastion. A plan of Funchal (Mateus Fernandes, c. 1570), depicts the fortress, inside which the Captain's Houses were located, defended by a rectangular wall, to the Southeast of which stood the Manueline turret and, to the Northwest, another turret next to which French corsairs would have entered in 1566.
In 1572 the defensive project was modified, being increased to three bulwarks. It was also decided to demolish the houses that were impeding it, and to cut the balconies on the front of Calhau, where the city walls were to be built, divided by five gates – two to the south facing the sea, one to the east. and two to the west –, running the walls between the João Gomes and São Francisco rivers (current São João river), reaching the hills of Pena and Pico dos Frias.
It is believed that around 1580 the southwestern, quadrangular bastion would have been completed, as well as two pentagonal bastions to the north, in a dominant position, covering the city. The fortification is thus described at the time:
"Ahead of the Alfândega, a crossbow's shot, is the old Fortress, which is the main one, located on a rock, and has six large and beautiful water pipes on the sea side that come out of it, and it rises in the same rock on which and founded; and in no way can it be taken or hindered by the land band of any enemies: which Fortaleza has by the sea side two turrets, like towers, very strong, that guard the same sea, and artillery, of which they are well provided for; and on the other side of the land two others, who guard the whole city above, because they are taller than it; in which part also has a very high and strong wall, with a very strong trapdoor. water, there is no shortage of atafonas, ovens and barns to collect supplies, and rich rooms, where the captain rests, adorned with his garden and freshness." (Gaspar Frutuoso. Missing the Earth.)
The Philippine Dynasty
At the time of the Philippine Dynasty (1580-1640), the administration of the Madeira archipelago came to be exercised by General Governors, the first of which was Judge João Leitão.
The Old Fortress began to host the permanent Castilian force that garrisoned the island, and its palace began to house the Military Governor, D. Agostinho de Herrera, Count of Lanzarote, replaced in 1582 by Captain Juan de Aranda. The works on the fortress were completed during this period, under the direction of the royal master builder, Jerónimo Jorge, including the construction of the north central bastion, semi-pentagonal, at the beginning of the 17th century, garnishing the Arms Gate, under the invocation of Saint Lawrence. Subsequently, the image - with the date 1636 (1639?) on its base - would be placed in a niche over the Arms Gate -, with the fortress being renamed "São Lourenço" and the bulwark "do Castanheiro", given the tree that grew on its terrace.
Its military profile was softened with the construction of the Palace of the Military Governor of the island, a building with an extensive façade, subject to extensive remodeling in subsequent centuries.
Its best iconographic representation dates from the middle of the 17th century: the drawing "S. Lourenço Fortress where the Governor's Prison is located on the Island of Madeira", by Bartolomeu João, in the chorographic chart "Description of Madeira Island, City of Funchal, Villas, Places, Ribeiras, Ports and Enceadas, and more Secrets…". In it it is possible to identify the North and Northwest bastions of the fortress, and an area marked by three openings to the interior of the North bastion, then uncovered, currently integrated in the North part of the palace - the Sala Vasco da Gama.
From the Restoration to the 18th century
After the Restoration of Portuguese independence (December 1, 1640), whose news was only officially known in Madeira in January 1641, being formalized by the acclamation and recognition of D. João IV (1640-1656), the Castilian prison based in in the Fortress of São Lourenço, dispersing its garrison. Luís de Miranda Henriques, appointed by Margarida de Savoy, Duchess of Mantua on May 22, 1640, remained as Governor during the year 1641.
The Palace continued to be used as the residence of Governors and Captains-General, and, with the advent of the Constitutional Government in 1834, of civil Governors from 1835 onwards.
A fire in 1699 partially destroyed the Governor's residence, which led to a new intervention in the residential area of the fortress. It is believed that the growth of the South body in one more floor dates from this time, which came to be absorbed by the building of the halls on the noble floor, with high ceilings, at the end of the 18th century. It was in this construction phase that the residential function began to predominate over the defensive function of the complex, particularly with the works campaign under the government of D. Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, when the three main halls were built, currently designated as Sala dos Capitães- Grantees, Noble or Ballroom and Red Room, and, later, the Green Room and the gallery that delimits it on the north side, over the interior garden. The set became, for this reason, more frequently called "Palace" than "Fortress".
The 19th century
Between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the new wing built in the extension of the main floor sacrificed the Southwest bastion, on which a new dependency was built, currently known as Sala do Baluarte. The formation of the interior garden, which had a water tank, dates from the same period. Both are featured in a survey by Paulo Dias de Almeida ("Fort.ª de S. Lour.º Rezid.ª dos Governadores", 1805). The same author, in a later work, records: "This fortress is only used for the residence of governors, it has no artillery and the sea battery is very limited." ("Description of Madeira Island…", 1817)
In the context of the Peninsular War, there were British occupations of Madeira:
The first, by the forces of Colonel William Henry Clinton, from July 23, 1801 to January 27, 1802, without direct interference in the civil administration; The second, between 1807 and 1814, with, on December 24, 1807, the General Staff of Lieutenant-Governor William Carr Beresford installed itself in the São Lourenço Palace, then the residence of Governor Pedro Fagundes Bacelar d'Antas e Menezes where, as in all the fortresses of the island, the Flag of the United Kingdom was hoisted, and a proclamation was later published in which the population was led to recognize George III of the United Kingdom as its legitimate sovereign. This situation continued until the signing of the Madeira Restitution Treaty (London, 16 March 1808), a copy of which arrived in Madeira at the end of April. The Palace of São Lourenço was then returned to the civil administration, with Beresford moving to Lisbon in August of the same year. A British garrison remained stationed on the archipelago until September 1814, when the Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and France was signed that year.
During the management of the Governor and Captain-General Sebastião Xavier Botelho, several changes were made to the structure of the Palace, the most relevant of which was the displacement of the external staircase leading to the main floor, until then located to the southwest of the inner courtyard and facing the chapel. existing there, towards the center of that patio, in the same place where the staircase whose stone balustrade dates from the 1940s is located. Painting of Funchal, from the portrait of D. João VI dated 1819, currently in the Audience Hall of the Minister of the Republic.
At the end of the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1834), with the signing of the Convention of Évora-Monte (1834), the appointment of Governors and General Captains for the archipelago ceased, being created, initially, the post of Mayor and, in 1835 , that of Civil Governor, along with a Military Governor.
The separation of powers in the archipelago determined, in the Palácio-Fortaleza, in 1836, the separation between the Barracks of the Governador das Armas, to the East, and the Palace, the official residence of the Civil Governor, to the West, comprising the Noble Rooms, the offices, the residential area, the gardens and the Southwest, Northeast and North bastions. This division, essentially, currently corresponds to the Operational Command of the Military Zone of Madeira and the official residence of the Minister of the Republic.
Of the alterations introduced in the complex in the period, the disappearance of the Chapel dating from the beginning of the 17th century, as well as the arrangement of the gardens of the Palace during the management of José Silvestre Ribeiro stand out:
"Snr. J. S. Ribeiro has taken care of the Palace of the Fortress of S. Lourenço, as if it were his property; and here is that grandiose building, here are its gardens, not only well preserved but even considerably improved" ("Brevissima Review of Some Services Provided to the District of Funchal by Counselor José Silvestre Ribeiro") The landscaping of the Northwest bulwark was carried out on the initiative of the same Governor, being referred to in the survey carried out by António Pedro d'Azevedo in 1860, from which it is observed that the garden on the ground floor remains identical or similar to that of 1805, with the respective tank, which would be covered after a son of that Governor drowned in it.
A new intervention in the Palace took place from 1878, when the south elevation was standardized according to the model that had guided, at the beginning of the century, the building of the room on the Southwest Bastion. However, as this initiative did not obtain the agreement of the then Military Governor, the part of the building that was assigned to him was not modified, and remained so until the end of the 1930s.
From the 20th century to our days
With the proclamation of the Republic in Portugal (October 5, 1910), the group entered a progressive decline, which lasted until the end of the 1930s. In 1931, in the context of the so-called Madeira Revolt, the Revolutionary Board formed on April, led by General Sousa Dias, settled in the São Lourenço Palace, which then also served as a prison, until the transfer to the Lazareto, on April 27, of representatives of the Dictatorship: Silva Leal, High Commissioner of the Government sent to Madeira following the February incidents, Almeida Cabaço, the Civil Governor, and José Maria de Freitas, Military Governor. As the seat of the Revolutionary Junta, the Palace was where the defense of the island against the forces sent by the Government was organized, until the surrender, on the 1st of May.
In the period between 1938 and 1941 there was a new campaign of works in the Palácio-Fortaleza, under the management of Governor José Nosolini Pinto Leão, reflecting the concept of monumentality underlying the cultural and heritage policy of the Estado Novo, with the resources of a extraordinary subsidy granted to it by the Government through Decree-Law nº 29.742, of July 12, 1939. At the time, the internal areas of the palace, the front gardens, certain curtains and defensive turrets were the object of preservation and improvement works, the appearance of the south façade of the building was unified and its premises were intended to house Madeira's military leaders.
Classified as a National Monument by Decree No. 32973 of 18 August 1943. Since the institution of the autonomous system in 1976, the Palace sector has been used as the official residence of the Minister of the Republic for the Autonomous Region of Madeira. At the end of the 1990s, the monument was the object of archaeological research, on the initiative of the Minister of the Republic.
Characteristics
Part of the defensive perimeter of the Fortress of São Lourenço was dismantled, a fate that shared with most of the island's defenses, losing its strategic importance.
Its chapel was built in 1635, named after the patron saint, São Lourenço. However, there is only one inscription engraved on the stonework of this temple that alludes to its foundation. In fact, the profound remodeling and adaptation works carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries altered the palatial façade and demolished the 17th-century chapel.
The Noroeste turret was maintained after the construction of the Noroeste bastion in the Filipino era, and was designed with four floors by the master of the royal works, Bartolomeu João, who succeeded his father, Jerónimo Jorge in 1618. The three upper floors were demolished in the XVIII century. The ground floor of the turret, incorporated into the interior of the Northwest bastion, was recovered between 1998 and 1999, and is integrated into the Palace's interior gardens.
Due to its volume and extension, the façade of the Palace of São Lourenço stands out, set in rhythm by its numerous windows and balconies. The main door is the work of an apparatus, being surmounted by a sculpture alluding to the patron saint.
The palatial interior is majestic and was also subject to renovations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Of the numerous rooms, mention should be made of the so-called "Canopy", "Boule", "Empire" or even the "Louis XVI" rooms, due to their rich and gallant ornamentation. Great artistic dignity presents a portrait of João VI of Portugal, a work done in 1819 by the painter Joaquim Leonardo da Rocha.
The Palace of São Lourenço is still defended by its powerful Filipino bastions, formed by wide walls with esplanades and protective embrasures. In the eastern part, there remains a circular Manueline turret marked by the coat of arms of this monarch, a work probably carried out by master João de Cáceres - royal military engineer and responsible for the defenses of Funchal from 1513 onwards.
Marked by the Spanish arms of the Filipino dynasty, the North bastion is an imposing testimony to the renovation and improvement of the modern defenses of São Lourenço.
Versão portuguesa aqui.
GPS 32.64756147761998, -16.910159313468746
The Palácio de São Lourenço is a palace and fortress located in the parish of Sé, in the historic center of the city of Funchal, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, and is currently the official residence of the Representative of the Republic in that archipelago.
It constitutes a monumental complex originally with the double function of fortification and palace, considered as the best and most imposing example of civil and military architecture on the island of Madeira. It comprises the Fortress of São Lourenço, begun in the first half of the 16th century and completed during the Philippine Dynasty, and the Palace itself, including the halls on the main floor dating from the last quarter of the 18th century and the interior gardens.
History
Background
Following the sack of Funchal in 1566, the new master of the Royal Works in Madeira, Mateus Fernandes (III), carried out the expansion of the old bastion. A plan of Funchal (Mateus Fernandes, c. 1570), depicts the fortress, inside which the Captain's Houses were located, defended by a rectangular wall, to the Southeast of which stood the Manueline turret and, to the Northwest, another turret next to which French corsairs would have entered in 1566.
In 1572 the defensive project was modified, being increased to three bulwarks. It was also decided to demolish the houses that were impeding it, and to cut the balconies on the front of Calhau, where the city walls were to be built, divided by five gates – two to the south facing the sea, one to the east. and two to the west –, running the walls between the João Gomes and São Francisco rivers (current São João river), reaching the hills of Pena and Pico dos Frias.
It is believed that around 1580 the southwestern, quadrangular bastion would have been completed, as well as two pentagonal bastions to the north, in a dominant position, covering the city. The fortification is thus described at the time:
"Ahead of the Alfândega, a crossbow's shot, is the old Fortress, which is the main one, located on a rock, and has six large and beautiful water pipes on the sea side that come out of it, and it rises in the same rock on which and founded; and in no way can it be taken or hindered by the land band of any enemies: which Fortaleza has by the sea side two turrets, like towers, very strong, that guard the same sea, and artillery, of which they are well provided for; and on the other side of the land two others, who guard the whole city above, because they are taller than it; in which part also has a very high and strong wall, with a very strong trapdoor. water, there is no shortage of atafonas, ovens and barns to collect supplies, and rich rooms, where the captain rests, adorned with his garden and freshness." (Gaspar Frutuoso. Missing the Earth.)
The Philippine Dynasty
At the time of the Philippine Dynasty (1580-1640), the administration of the Madeira archipelago came to be exercised by General Governors, the first of which was Judge João Leitão.
The Old Fortress began to host the permanent Castilian force that garrisoned the island, and its palace began to house the Military Governor, D. Agostinho de Herrera, Count of Lanzarote, replaced in 1582 by Captain Juan de Aranda. The works on the fortress were completed during this period, under the direction of the royal master builder, Jerónimo Jorge, including the construction of the north central bastion, semi-pentagonal, at the beginning of the 17th century, garnishing the Arms Gate, under the invocation of Saint Lawrence. Subsequently, the image - with the date 1636 (1639?) on its base - would be placed in a niche over the Arms Gate -, with the fortress being renamed "São Lourenço" and the bulwark "do Castanheiro", given the tree that grew on its terrace.
Its military profile was softened with the construction of the Palace of the Military Governor of the island, a building with an extensive façade, subject to extensive remodeling in subsequent centuries.
Its best iconographic representation dates from the middle of the 17th century: the drawing "S. Lourenço Fortress where the Governor's Prison is located on the Island of Madeira", by Bartolomeu João, in the chorographic chart "Description of Madeira Island, City of Funchal, Villas, Places, Ribeiras, Ports and Enceadas, and more Secrets…". In it it is possible to identify the North and Northwest bastions of the fortress, and an area marked by three openings to the interior of the North bastion, then uncovered, currently integrated in the North part of the palace - the Sala Vasco da Gama.
From the Restoration to the 18th century
After the Restoration of Portuguese independence (December 1, 1640), whose news was only officially known in Madeira in January 1641, being formalized by the acclamation and recognition of D. João IV (1640-1656), the Castilian prison based in in the Fortress of São Lourenço, dispersing its garrison. Luís de Miranda Henriques, appointed by Margarida de Savoy, Duchess of Mantua on May 22, 1640, remained as Governor during the year 1641.
The Palace continued to be used as the residence of Governors and Captains-General, and, with the advent of the Constitutional Government in 1834, of civil Governors from 1835 onwards.
A fire in 1699 partially destroyed the Governor's residence, which led to a new intervention in the residential area of the fortress. It is believed that the growth of the South body in one more floor dates from this time, which came to be absorbed by the building of the halls on the noble floor, with high ceilings, at the end of the 18th century. It was in this construction phase that the residential function began to predominate over the defensive function of the complex, particularly with the works campaign under the government of D. Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, when the three main halls were built, currently designated as Sala dos Capitães- Grantees, Noble or Ballroom and Red Room, and, later, the Green Room and the gallery that delimits it on the north side, over the interior garden. The set became, for this reason, more frequently called "Palace" than "Fortress".
The 19th century
Between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the new wing built in the extension of the main floor sacrificed the Southwest bastion, on which a new dependency was built, currently known as Sala do Baluarte. The formation of the interior garden, which had a water tank, dates from the same period. Both are featured in a survey by Paulo Dias de Almeida ("Fort.ª de S. Lour.º Rezid.ª dos Governadores", 1805). The same author, in a later work, records: "This fortress is only used for the residence of governors, it has no artillery and the sea battery is very limited." ("Description of Madeira Island…", 1817)
In the context of the Peninsular War, there were British occupations of Madeira:
The first, by the forces of Colonel William Henry Clinton, from July 23, 1801 to January 27, 1802, without direct interference in the civil administration; The second, between 1807 and 1814, with, on December 24, 1807, the General Staff of Lieutenant-Governor William Carr Beresford installed itself in the São Lourenço Palace, then the residence of Governor Pedro Fagundes Bacelar d'Antas e Menezes where, as in all the fortresses of the island, the Flag of the United Kingdom was hoisted, and a proclamation was later published in which the population was led to recognize George III of the United Kingdom as its legitimate sovereign. This situation continued until the signing of the Madeira Restitution Treaty (London, 16 March 1808), a copy of which arrived in Madeira at the end of April. The Palace of São Lourenço was then returned to the civil administration, with Beresford moving to Lisbon in August of the same year. A British garrison remained stationed on the archipelago until September 1814, when the Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and France was signed that year.
During the management of the Governor and Captain-General Sebastião Xavier Botelho, several changes were made to the structure of the Palace, the most relevant of which was the displacement of the external staircase leading to the main floor, until then located to the southwest of the inner courtyard and facing the chapel. existing there, towards the center of that patio, in the same place where the staircase whose stone balustrade dates from the 1940s is located. Painting of Funchal, from the portrait of D. João VI dated 1819, currently in the Audience Hall of the Minister of the Republic.
At the end of the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1834), with the signing of the Convention of Évora-Monte (1834), the appointment of Governors and General Captains for the archipelago ceased, being created, initially, the post of Mayor and, in 1835 , that of Civil Governor, along with a Military Governor.
The separation of powers in the archipelago determined, in the Palácio-Fortaleza, in 1836, the separation between the Barracks of the Governador das Armas, to the East, and the Palace, the official residence of the Civil Governor, to the West, comprising the Noble Rooms, the offices, the residential area, the gardens and the Southwest, Northeast and North bastions. This division, essentially, currently corresponds to the Operational Command of the Military Zone of Madeira and the official residence of the Minister of the Republic.
Of the alterations introduced in the complex in the period, the disappearance of the Chapel dating from the beginning of the 17th century, as well as the arrangement of the gardens of the Palace during the management of José Silvestre Ribeiro stand out:
"Snr. J. S. Ribeiro has taken care of the Palace of the Fortress of S. Lourenço, as if it were his property; and here is that grandiose building, here are its gardens, not only well preserved but even considerably improved" ("Brevissima Review of Some Services Provided to the District of Funchal by Counselor José Silvestre Ribeiro") The landscaping of the Northwest bulwark was carried out on the initiative of the same Governor, being referred to in the survey carried out by António Pedro d'Azevedo in 1860, from which it is observed that the garden on the ground floor remains identical or similar to that of 1805, with the respective tank, which would be covered after a son of that Governor drowned in it.
A new intervention in the Palace took place from 1878, when the south elevation was standardized according to the model that had guided, at the beginning of the century, the building of the room on the Southwest Bastion. However, as this initiative did not obtain the agreement of the then Military Governor, the part of the building that was assigned to him was not modified, and remained so until the end of the 1930s.
From the 20th century to our days
With the proclamation of the Republic in Portugal (October 5, 1910), the group entered a progressive decline, which lasted until the end of the 1930s. In 1931, in the context of the so-called Madeira Revolt, the Revolutionary Board formed on April, led by General Sousa Dias, settled in the São Lourenço Palace, which then also served as a prison, until the transfer to the Lazareto, on April 27, of representatives of the Dictatorship: Silva Leal, High Commissioner of the Government sent to Madeira following the February incidents, Almeida Cabaço, the Civil Governor, and José Maria de Freitas, Military Governor. As the seat of the Revolutionary Junta, the Palace was where the defense of the island against the forces sent by the Government was organized, until the surrender, on the 1st of May.
In the period between 1938 and 1941 there was a new campaign of works in the Palácio-Fortaleza, under the management of Governor José Nosolini Pinto Leão, reflecting the concept of monumentality underlying the cultural and heritage policy of the Estado Novo, with the resources of a extraordinary subsidy granted to it by the Government through Decree-Law nº 29.742, of July 12, 1939. At the time, the internal areas of the palace, the front gardens, certain curtains and defensive turrets were the object of preservation and improvement works, the appearance of the south façade of the building was unified and its premises were intended to house Madeira's military leaders.
Classified as a National Monument by Decree No. 32973 of 18 August 1943. Since the institution of the autonomous system in 1976, the Palace sector has been used as the official residence of the Minister of the Republic for the Autonomous Region of Madeira. At the end of the 1990s, the monument was the object of archaeological research, on the initiative of the Minister of the Republic.
Characteristics
Part of the defensive perimeter of the Fortress of São Lourenço was dismantled, a fate that shared with most of the island's defenses, losing its strategic importance.
Its chapel was built in 1635, named after the patron saint, São Lourenço. However, there is only one inscription engraved on the stonework of this temple that alludes to its foundation. In fact, the profound remodeling and adaptation works carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries altered the palatial façade and demolished the 17th-century chapel.
The Noroeste turret was maintained after the construction of the Noroeste bastion in the Filipino era, and was designed with four floors by the master of the royal works, Bartolomeu João, who succeeded his father, Jerónimo Jorge in 1618. The three upper floors were demolished in the XVIII century. The ground floor of the turret, incorporated into the interior of the Northwest bastion, was recovered between 1998 and 1999, and is integrated into the Palace's interior gardens.
Due to its volume and extension, the façade of the Palace of São Lourenço stands out, set in rhythm by its numerous windows and balconies. The main door is the work of an apparatus, being surmounted by a sculpture alluding to the patron saint.
The palatial interior is majestic and was also subject to renovations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Of the numerous rooms, mention should be made of the so-called "Canopy", "Boule", "Empire" or even the "Louis XVI" rooms, due to their rich and gallant ornamentation. Great artistic dignity presents a portrait of João VI of Portugal, a work done in 1819 by the painter Joaquim Leonardo da Rocha.
The Palace of São Lourenço is still defended by its powerful Filipino bastions, formed by wide walls with esplanades and protective embrasures. In the eastern part, there remains a circular Manueline turret marked by the coat of arms of this monarch, a work probably carried out by master João de Cáceres - royal military engineer and responsible for the defenses of Funchal from 1513 onwards.
Marked by the Spanish arms of the Filipino dynasty, the North bastion is an imposing testimony to the renovation and improvement of the modern defenses of São Lourenço.
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