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GPS 38.70765295622594, -9.197979041104732
The Palácio Nacional da Ajuda or Paço de Nossa Senhora da Ajuda is a Portuguese national monument, located in the parish of Ajuda, in Lisbon.
Its construction began at the end of the 18th century (1795) to replace the Real Barraca, Paço Real so called because it is made of wood. The initial project, by Manuel Caetano de Sousa, underwent a profound change with a new project in 1802. Neoclassical in inspiration, by the architects Francisco Xavier Fabri and José da Costa e Silva, the Palace was inhabited with several interruptions, having remained unfinished. It functioned as a Royal Palace for King D. Luis I (1838-1889), who settled there permanently from 1861. In the vestibule, the 47 statues signed by Portuguese artists deserve special mention.
Closed with the establishment of the Republic in 1910, the interior of the Palace was turned into a museum, from 1968, presenting a relevant collection of furniture, goldwork, silverware and jewellery.
Between 2018 and 2020, work will take place on the "finishing" of the west wing of the palace, which will thus complete the unfinished palace and where a vault will be installed to receive the collection of the Portuguese Crown Jewels.
Former Royal Palace, it is now largely a museum, with the remaining building housing the National Library of Ajuda, the Ministry of Culture, the Painting Gallery of King D. Luís I and the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage. The Palace and the Museum are managed by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and by the Presidency of the Republic.
History
Johannine period
In 1726, D. João V (1689-1750) acquired three farms in the Belém area. The first already had a building that is today the Palace of Belém, the second a hermitage of the Oratory which was later expanded to what is now the Palácio das Necessidades and the third the Quinta da Ajuda reserved for the construction of a royal summer residence. . There the Calçada da Ajuda was torn and a pier was built next to Belém, however no palace was planned.
Pombaline period
The use of Quinta da Ajuda as a Royal Palace took place in the aftermath of the Lisbon earthquake on 1 November 1755, during the reign of Dom José I. The earthquake destroyed practically the entire city of Lisbon, including the King's residence, the old Ribeira Palace, whose complex embraced Terreiro do Paço, next to the Tagus River. The fact not only created material damage, but also created a phobia in the surviving population of Lisbon who now feared an aftershock or even a second shock.
Although the Royal family and the Court met that day in Belém, the western part of the city where the effects of the earthquake were not felt with such intensity, the King was so disturbed by the event that he refused to live in masonry buildings. D.José then had a wooden and fabric palace built on the heights of Ajuda, a place with little seismic activity, which was called Real Barraca or Paço de Madeira.
The work would only be completed in 1761. This construction obeyed, in its beginning, two principles: resistance to earthquakes (thanks to its construction materials) and the absence of masonry. The ground floor and first floor followed the layout of Petrone, Mazone and Veríssimo Jorge.
Its interiors were decorated with the best and most beautiful furniture and large and precious pieces of tapestry, painting and goldwork. The structure grew so large that it was larger in area than the existing palace today.
The court was based there for about three decades in a luxurious atmosphere from the golden age of Enlightened Despotism supported by what shipments of gold and diamonds from Brazil still allowed.
In 1768 the first botanical garden in Lisbon was built around the palace by order of Minister Sebastião José.
D.José lived in the Real Barraca until his death in 1777.
Regency Period
On the date of the death of King D.José, his daughter and successor, D.Maria I, had been living in the Palace of Queluz since her marriage to D.Pedro III. The Real Barraca remained in the background for a few years, although it was often visited by the Queen and her children.
From the 10th of February 1792, due to the Queen's insanity, Prince D.João, the future D.João VI, began directing public affairs, issuing decrees in his name; on July 15, 1799, and until ascending the throne, he assumed power under the title of Prince Regent and began to govern the kingdom.
In 1794, and according to the records, due to the carelessness of a servant with a lamp, a huge fire breaks out that completely destroys the Real Barraca and a large part of its valuable contents – tapestries, paintings, jewellery, furniture – is completely consumed by the fire.
The Parish Tower was saved thanks to the demolition of a walkway that connected it to the Real Barraca during a fire. There are some pieces from the interior of the palace that resisted the fire, which are currently on display at the Museu do Palácio Nacional da Ajuda. And curiously, there are records of the remains of a masonry structure built to support the second floor being found in the rubble.
It is now necessary to build a new palace worthy of hosting the Royal Family. This was not a new idea, even in the time of King João V and the old Paço da Ribeira, this project already existed. Many historians claim that if it weren't for the earthquake, D. José would most likely have completed such a project instead of the provisional structure that ended up burning down.
Prince D. João approves the construction of a new palace from scratch. The outline of the plan is by Manuel Caetano de Sousa (1742-1802) who presents a Baroque project, with the laying of the first stone celebrated on November 9, 1795. Note the peculiarity of the approval of a very important Baroque project in the end of the 18th century. Even at the beginning of this construction, two architects arrived in Portugal from the Bologna school and followers of the new trend of neoclassical inspiration, who influenced Prince D. João, putting the Baroque project aside. These two architects were Francisco Xavier Fabri (1761-1817) and José da Costa e Silva (1747-1819) and were commissioned in 1802 to modify the previous project. It was José da Costa e Silva who defended the use of the structure already built, adapting it to the new project.
The works started in 1795 were interrupted shortly after, due to lack of resources, and the work started again in 1802. In the same year, Caetano de Sousa died, leaving the Palace in the hands of the two architects mentioned.
Costa e Silva and Fabri, maintaining what was then built, introduced the necessary alterations in order to make the new royal palace more dignified, serious and majestic. The general plan was simplified and reduced, as well as the ornamentation, now much more careful.
Construction of the new building was interrupted on several occasions due to recurrent problems at national level, financial and political. The French Invasions stand out which, in 1807, resulted in the transfer of the Royal Family and the Court to Brazil.
In 1807 the teams of painters, sculptors and decorators were already defined, however, the arrival in Lisbon of the Napoleonic troops commanded by Junot resulted in, once again, the interruption of the works in Ajuda. With Costa e Silva in Brazil, it was Fabri who led the works between 1813 and 1817, introducing new changes, including architectural ones, which resulted in a new plan. Fabri's model was, of course, the Reggia di Caserta, designed by Luigi Vanvitelli.
It is from Palácio da Ajuda that Prince D.João writes to his subjects before leaving for Brazil. Although the Invasions were not directly responsible - since the records indicate that Napoleon Bonaparte's envoy, General Junot, gave the order that the works on the palace did not stop - the simultaneous construction of a Royal Palace in Brazil, the Paço of São Cristóvão (significantly damaged in a fire that occurred on the night of September 2, 2018), and other important works in the colony ended up unbalancing investments in the Kingdom in favor of Brazil.
As such, throughout the first half of the 19th century, the works proceeded slowly, with important national artists working on them: Domingos Sequeira (1768-1837), Arcangelo Foschini (1771-1834), Cirilo Wolkmar Machado (1748-1823), Machado de Castro (1731-1822), Joaquim José de Barros Laborão (1762-1820) and João José de Aguiar (1769-1834), who dedicated themselves to the decoration of ceilings and façades.
Period of Liberalism
With António Francisco Rosa taking over the work in 1818, the works continued at a slow pace, so when in 1821, D.João VI returned from Brazil (following the liberal revolution of 1820), the Palace was not yet completed . The facilities only allowed for protocol ceremonies, such as the investiture of the Order of the Garter to D. João VI, in 1823. It was under these conditions that the monarch went to live in the Palácio da Bemposta, where he died on 10 March from 1826.
From that date onwards, the courts rebelled against the funds spent on Ajuda, so work was restarted in 1826 on the initiative of D. Isabel Maria, who sought to make the palace habitable. The project was reduced in half, that is, to a single block.
The east and south wings of Paço da Ajuda were already habitable, and the decoration of their interiors was guided by the Marquise of Alorna, who was invited for this purpose. After the death of the King and still in the same year of 1826, the now Infanta Regent D. Isabel Maria and her sisters D. Maria da Assunção and D. Maria Francisca Benedita came to reside in the new Royal Palace.
In the field of decoration, the atrium would be occupied by numerous sculptures inspired by the iconology of Cesare Ripa and designed by Machado de Castro, who had been in charge of this area since 1802. In these sculptures executed by this master and his disciples, one recognizes the end of a period, as well as the new classicism evident in the work of João José de Aguiar.
In 1828 D.Miguel I is acclaimed King here by the Three Estates gathered in the Courts Room, today the Supper Room.
D.Miguel I even inhabited the Paço da Ajuda for about six months while the Palácio das Necessidades underwent some alterations to be his future official residence.
After the clashes between the liberal and absolutist factions began, the country entered a climate of fragile stability and the works that were proceeding slowly paralyzed in 1833 with the entry of liberal troops in Lisbon.
Once the liberal regime was restored with the victory of his troops, D. Pedro assumed power as Regent until his daughter D. Maria II came of age and swore in the Throne Room of Paço da Ajuda, on 30 August 1834, the Constitutional Charter.
The shaded part is the one that has been built. By this time and for various reasons, the execution of the palace's integral plan had already been put aside. In fact, the concept of power centered in a large palace (as the Paço da Ajuda would have been if completed), from where the King made his decisions surrounded by his Family, Court and Ministers could have fitted into the political panorama of the Regency period. and the New Regime but would no longer have the same place in the new Liberal perspective. In 1833, priority was given to adapting the Monastery of São Bento (closed that year) to the Palácio das Cortes, (later Palácio de São Bento), to house the parliamentary chambers.
In addition, D. Maria II and her second husband, the King-consort D. Fernando II, lived in the newly adapted Palácio das Necessidades. The Paço da Ajuda is thus again in the background - again, as the same happened to the Royal Barracks during the time of Queen D.Maria I - with only a few hand-kissing ceremonies being held on the Court's festive days .
The Palace of Ajuda was thus reduced to sporadic official ceremonies, even after the death of Queen D. Maria II, and during the reign of King D.Pedro V, who arrived to use the Palace to celebrate his Acclamation and Marriage and to visit his friend and royal librarian Alexandre Herculano. D.Pedro V resides with his father and brothers in the Palácio das Necessidades. It would be, however, a tragedy that would end with this relegation of Paço da Ajuda.
Reign of D. Luís
In 1861, an enormous tragedy took place within the Royal Family. At the end of that year, Infantes D. Fernando and D. Augusto fell ill with typhoid fever. Bedridden in the Palácio das Necessidades, they also ended up infecting his brother King D. Pedro V. On 6 November, the dying King heard the tolling of the bells for the death of his young 15-year-old brother, Infante D. Fernando.
Meanwhile, the Infantes D. Luís (future D. Luis I) and D. João, absent on a trip - as they were taking their sister, Infanta D. Antónia to her husband in Belgium - had received news of the serious illness of the Infantes and the contagion of the King. D. Luís and D. João had already sailed from France towards Lisbon. Upon landing in Lisbon, D. Luís was received by dignitaries who, bending the knee, addressed him as “Majesty”. King D. Pedro V, his brother, had died on the 11th of November, and D. Luís learned at the same time of D. Fernando's death. D. Augusto improves, but the newly arrived D. João is infected and ends up succumbing on the 27th of December.
Riots, superstitions, theories and all the voices advise D. Luís to leave the Palace of Necessidades. D. Luís I moves to the Palace of Paço de Arcos for a few months, while work begins to adapt the Palace of Ajuda. At the same time, in a hasty negotiation, a princess is chosen, Maria Pia de Savoy, daughter of the new and first King of Italy Victor Emanuel II. Now in the center of attention, Palácio da Ajuda acquires the true dimension of Paço Real, it will be from that year of 1861 and for the first time in its history, the Royal Residence.
To welcome the new Monarch and his future and already demanding (by letter) 14-year-old Queen, essential works were carried out on the structure of the building, such as roofs, woodwork, windows. There were large orders for carpets, lighting, and furniture.
Everything to provide the spaces with a minimum of comfort, which would allow them to live in.
Queen Maria Pia (1847-1911), upon arriving in Ajuda in 1862, initiated what were the major changes in the interior decoration.
New hygiene, comfort, privacy and individuality rules were introduced, characteristic of the bourgeois mentality of the 19th century.
The decoration, although managed almost entirely to the Queen's taste, was organized and executed by the architect Joaquim Possidónio Narciso da Silva, whose decorative principles were close to Maria Pia's taste.
One can see the compartmentalization of large rooms, such as the old vestibule, divided into three, a room (Winter Garden) flanked by two antechambers (Oak Cabinet and Saxe Room). New divisions are introduced, such as bathrooms equipped with a bathtub and running water, a dining room (called «da Rainha») for the family’s daily meals and leisure areas such as the Music Room, the Blue Room and the Winter Garden. Billiards, Painting Atelier and Chinese Room. Only D. Maria Pia's majestic room, carpeted and decorated in the style of Napoleon III, and her office (Sala Verde) prepared by D. Luís as a surprise for the Queen's arrival remained untouched. These large rooms of the Queen contrasted with the reduced spaces of the King. Different in personality, the simplicity and humility of D. Luís were remarkable in the face of the truly princely and imposing profile of D. Maria Pia. This relationship between the two was concretely manifested in the distribution of spaces and decorative elements in the Palace.
Maria Pia had a chapel built, signed by the modernist architect Miguel Ventura Terra at the time (around 1897) a recently graduated architect, with a scholarship from the School of Beaux-Arts in Paris. The chapel that had been closed since 1910 was reopened in 2014, after restoration. In the chapel there are several paintings such as the Virgin and Child by the painter José Veloso Salgado who is on the altar and the only El Greco in Portugal. With walls dotted with gold stars, a wooden ceiling and large doors with elegant ironwork, the chapel, located in the area of the royal family's apartments, is divided into three parts: an entrance chamber, the body of the chapel and the sacristy.
Ajuda is one of the few Royal Palaces that shows such a marked family side, to the point of being itself a mirror of this relationship. As is the case with the subdivision of D. Luís' bedroom into small spaces into an office, toilette, bedroom and bathroom in the style of a sailor. All these decorative alterations required alterations made from the walls and ceilings, now painted or relined, to the floor, with the placement of «parquets» or carpet coverings.
The filling (furniture, textiles and decorative objects in general) had different origins. Part came from the reserves of the Royal Palaces and the Treasury. Another part was acquired from numerous Portuguese and foreign specialty houses, with D. Maria Pia being a famous promoter and user of catalog shopping, a novelty at the time. The remaining elements would be gifts from different Royal Houses, as well as the trousseau brought from Italy by D. Maria Pia.
The Palácio da Ajuda simultaneously became the scene of grand gala parties – official banquets and receptions – as well as events linked to the daily life of the Royal Family: chamber music concerts, evenings animated by various artists, pool games, wist , and Lotus. D. Maria Pia often asked D. Luís for the Sala do Despacho to organize Christmas and Carnival.
Princes D. Carlos (1863-1908) and D. Afonso (1865-1920) were born here, with their childhood undoubtedly linked to this Palace.
The reign of D. Luís took place under the sign of peace, stability and progress, with the king distinguishing himself for his political impartiality, tolerance and respect for the various party currents. It is during this period that various activities will be developed in the most varied domains.
D. Luís was a lover of all the Arts. Of particular note was the creation, with the help of his father D. Fernando, of the Painting Gallery in the north wing of the Palácio da Ajuda, where a large part of the royal collection was gathered, which, opening to the public in 1869, ended up closing in 1875.
In addition to the works and decorations mentioned above, several other interventions were carried out in the palace during the reign of King Luís. Among them were the arrangements for the marriage of the Crown Prince D.Carlos to the Princess of France, Amélia of Orléans, which included new furniture in the Supper Room, and covering the Throne Room.
The former rooms of the Princes also changed as they grew, with those of D. Carlos disappearing on the occasion of his marriage and his move to the Palace of Belém, which had been the subject of improvements to become the Official Residence of the Dukes of Bragança .
In the last years of his life, D. Luís was a sick man and his stuffy room, shared and with little light, had to be changed by order of the doctors. D. Luís, reluctantly, went to the main floor, to a relatively larger room but with much more air and light, a fact that contributed to a relative improvement in the King's health.
The Queen's Dining Room, the last of the Palace's works, was also completed shortly after the King's death in 1889.
Last Years of the Monarchy
After the death of D. Luís in 1889, D. Carlos, his son, occupies the throne alongside Queen D. Amélia. At that time D. Carlos and D. Amélia were living in Belém with their children, the Royal Prince D. Luís Filipe and Infante D. Manuel (future Manuel II). The Palácio da Ajuda is again in the background. It is inhabited by the Queen Mother, D. Maria Pia, and her son, Infante D. Afonso. Inside the palace, some rooms on the noble floor were reserved for the official ceremonies of the new reign.
Here, state banquets and receptions were held in honor of Edward VII of England, Alfonso XIII of Spain, William II of Germany, Émile Loubet, President of the French Republic, among other state guests who visited Portugal during the reign of King Carlos.
On February 1, 1908, the King and Crown Prince D. Luís Filipe are assassinated. D. Manuel II, who resides in Necessidades, ascends to the throne, continuing the Paço da Ajuda reserved for State ceremonies. D. Maria Pia resided in the palace until October 1910, when the entire Royal Family left Portugal following the establishment of the Republic.
From the First Republic to the present
In the first years of the Republic, the palace was closed, but the Republic's concern with the heritage kept there was great and all the assets of the royal palaces were carefully inventoried. In a second phase, most of the Royal Palaces were almost completely emptied and their contents stored in the Palácio da Ajuda.
As the mother house of the Royal collections, the Palace reopened in 1938 as a Museum.
In 1954, Casa Forte was inaugurated, where the collection of Jewels and Silverware from the Crown was displayed.
As the Palace was still unfinished, in the 1940s Raul Lino was twice in charge of designing the building's finish. None of these projects was carried out.
In 1974, from the 23rd to the 24th of September, a huge fire destroyed the D. Luís Painting Gallery and part of the north wing. According to press reports, this fire would have destroyed a large part of the works of art existing there, in an approximate number of 500 paintings. One of these paintings, authored by Rembrandt (self-portrait), was negotiated in Paris, at Palazzo Galiera, at the end of November 1974, and another, by a famous Italian painter of the 19th century, representing military horse, was sold by Casa Christie's, in London, at the beginning of 1975.
In 1987, the architect Gonçalo Byrne was invited to design the west wing, which remains to be finished.
The Palace Museum contains a true and unique collection of decorative arts with collections ranging from the 15th to the 20th century and features the private apartments and the noble rooms for gala days on two different floors.
Today, as during the monarchy, it is used by the Portuguese State for official ceremonies.
Completion of the Palace (2018-2021)
In November 2014 it was announced that the unfinished façade of the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda was going to be completed. This project does not only include the recovery of the building, it also includes the permanent installation of the Portuguese Crown jewels in the Palace. The exhibition includes a gold nugget considered the largest in the world. Stored in the Mint safe. The 4.4 million euros relating to the insurance of the Portuguese Crown Jewels stolen in Holland in 2002 will be used for this project.
The works began in February 2018 and will end in 2020, with an initial budget of 15 million euros, the budget rose to 21 million euros, due to the requalification of the surrounding public space, the creation of a restaurant and the security project that requires exposure of the Royal Treasury.
The entire project, which also includes the requalification of the public space in Calçada da Ajuda, had an investment value of 31 million euros, mostly made possible by the Lisbon Tourism Development Fund.
The works will complete the western façade of the building, in a modernist style, where the Permanent Exhibition of the Royal Treasury will be installed, with thousands of copies of the crown jewels and jewelery treasures of the Royal Household, in an exhibition space that will be a safe with tight control and security measures.
Palace Collections
The Palace has important collections of decorative arts from the 15th to the 20th century, with highlights from the 18th and 19th centuries, namely: goldwork, jewellery, textiles, furniture, glass and ceramics, as well as collections of painting, engraving, sculpture and photography.
Ceramics
The ceramic collection has around 17,000 pieces in porcelain, earthenware and stoneware, assuming a prominent role in the decorative arts on display. Representative of the stylistic currents of the 20th century. XIX, includes copies dating from the century. XVI to the beginning of the century. XX.
Sculpture
The sculpture collection comprises around 400 works, mostly produced between the first half of the 19th century and the second decade of the 20th century. This collection includes works in marble, bronze, wood, ivory and plaster, from the Italian, Portuguese and French schools. The sculptural values presented are related to the 19th century paradigm, which varies between neoclassicism, romanticism, naturalism and realism and expressions of modernity.
Photography
A notable collection for the variety of authors and species gathered, it is a collection that allows tracing the history of photography in Portugal. It consists of multiple typologies, with numerous formats and types of support where more than 300 photographers are represented.
Jewelery
This collection is characterized by a great diversity of typologies and origins from the end of the 17th century to the end of the 19th century. For security reasons, and the authenticity of the interiors of the palace, most pieces of jewelery are not exposed to the public.
Within this collection there are two main sections:
The Jewels of the Portuguese Crown, consisting predominantly of pieces from the 18th century and of national production. It is a heterogeneous set, due to the diversity of typologies, presenting, however, as a common characteristic, the excellence of the materials and technical and artistic mastery. Included in this core are adornment jewels, weapons that complement the gala uniforms, sumptuous national and foreign honorary insignia and even some raw minerals, from Brazilian gold and diamond exploration.
Everyday Jewelry, consisting of various types of adornment for everyday use, in which 19th-century examples predominate, coming from national workshops, but also from French and Italian workshops.
Metals
This collection includes a vast and heterogeneous collection of utilitarian and decorative pieces, mostly from the 19th century. It includes objects for domestic use, as well as decorative objects of great refinement and technical quality, made in bronze, brass and copper, among others. It is a collection that represents historical revivals and the influence of the East on the decorative arts, also testifying to the influence of industry on the art of working metals during the 19th century.
Furniture
Assembled by the royal household throughout the 2nd half of the 19th century, the furniture at Paço da Ajuda is a mirror of similar European collections. Continuously enriched, the collection exemplifies eclecticism and contrasts, as I like at the time: multiple European styles with oriental, exotic and naturalist influences, combined with the demand for comfort and functionality of the furniture. Collection of Portuguese and foreign authors: Leandro Braga, Sormani, Lelarge, I. Lebas, C. Chevigny, Giroux, Quignon, Boudet, M. Krieger and Escalier de Cristal, among others. Around 80% of the collection can be found in environments created by the royal family, in a disposition ensured by historical criteria.
Jewelery
The jewelery collection comprises a wide variety of types and origins, from the 14th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Three nuclei can be distinguished in its constitution: crown silverware, religious jewelery and decorative and utilitarian silverware.
The core of silverware in the crown brings together pieces from the 17th and 20th centuries. In this core, the crown's main tableware, the Germain Tableware, is of particular importance, commissioned by King José I to François Thomas Germain in the second half of the 18th century; as well as stately silver from the Portuguese royal household, made up mostly of salvers and bowls of great artistic value, which uniquely testify to Portuguese artistic production in the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries.
Religious jewelery brings together objects mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. It includes examples used in the chapels of the royal palaces and assets of the royal household after the extinction of the religious orders in 1834.
The core of decorative and utilitarian silverware is made up of objects related to daily life in the palace, many of them acquired by Queen D. Maria Pia, in the second half of the 19th century. Some of these objects are included in the museological route, according to the historical reconstitution of the 19th century environments. The productions of national, French, English, Austrian and Italian workshops stand out, being quantitatively the most representative core of this collection.
For security reasons, most pieces of jewelery are not exposed to the public.
Painting
Collection consisting of more than 450 oil paintings, to which approximately 880 copies must be added, including watercolors, drawings, pastels and sketches. Its origin was inherited from royal collections, part of which was part of the King Luís Painting Gallery. Portuguese painters and painters from various European schools, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, are represented. The collection offers a diverse theme, with emphasis on the nucleus of aulic painting (painting related to the palace and the court).
Textiles
Collection formed from the collection of the former Royal House. The textile collection is characterized by a great diversity of typologies, techniques, places and dates of origin. It comprises artistic objects from the former royal collections, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, in particular, collections of 18th-century European tapestries, doormats and vestments of the Royal Chapel, clothing and ornamental pieces and a set of objects related to everyday life. of the Royal Family, from the second half of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, until the establishment of the republic, consisting of items such as household linen, rugs, doormats, curtains, woven and/or embroidered upholstery and trade dress religious.
Costumes
Essentially made up of pieces related to the daily life of the Royal Family and the palace in the second half of the 19th century. Of note from this collection are the 2 royal mantles, with important symbolic and historical value, the military uniforms of kings D. Luís I and D. Carlos I and the Princes, important testimonies of experiences and documented historical facts. The collection also has pieces of civilian attire by D. Luís, D. Maria Pia and the princes. Among the objects used by the queen, a collection of fans stands out as accessories. It is also a testimony of the experiences of the palace, although incomplete, the set of costumes of the employees of the Royal House.
Utensils
The collection of utensils and equipment consists of pieces from the former Portuguese royal house and some donations, mostly from the 19th century. It includes approximately 2000 pieces of great diversity with different techniques and origins, such as the old kitchen equipment of the Royal House, pieces related to tableware, picnic, vanity and painting cases, utensils used for heating the palace, such as salamanders , stoves and accessories, lighting fixtures, smoking equipment, some personal objects, among others.
Glass
The palace's glass collection comprises around 12,500 pieces, from the estate of the former Royal House. Includes utilitarian and decorative glass, lamp and glazing. The pieces correspond, for the most part, to the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, corresponding to the period (1862-1910) of Queen D. Maria Pia's experience in the palace and resulting from her careful orders and her particular taste for glass, highlighting the large table services. The collection presents examples of the main glass production and commercial centers of this period in Europe, with emphasis on Bohemia, Italy, France, Spain, Austria, England, Germany and Portugal. A collection essentially made up of pieces produced using the blowing technique, demonstrating the main European trends and styles of the time. The glass collection is further enriched by presenting heraldic and individual decorative elements relating to King D. Luís and Queen D. Maria Pia, thus giving it a singular and unique character.
Royal Treasure Museum
The museum, scheduled to open in November 2021, will feature jewels from the royal collection, used in the daily life of the royal family, whether for private use or within the scope of the functions performed, which were passed from generation to generation, in a permanent exhibition. collection of large apparatus silverware, diplomatic gifts, decorations, coins, the famous Germain tableware and also precious raw materials such as gold nuggets, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, from Brazilian mines. The set that will have greater symbolism will be the pieces related to the acclamation of monarchs, namely the crown of Portugal, the scepter and the tiaras. There will be pieces by famous goldsmiths such as Fabergé or Castellani. It is intended that the pieces are explained from a scientific and technical point of view, but also historical and experiential.
At the opening of the new wing, more than 18,000 stones found in the Royal Treasury will be on display, including 31 exceptional emeralds and all of the same color, which makes the collection unique.
The new museum space has a security system of the highest level, the central core of this building, which features a glass structure crossed by vertical blades, will have a vault 40 meters long, ten meters high and ten wide, three floors and two steel doors, with five tons and 40 cm thick each.
The museum will have a permanent exhibition designed in 11 sections, which will include gold and diamonds from Brazil, coins and medals of the Crown, jewels from the former private collections of different members of the royal family, Portuguese 16th-century sages and silverware, the former private collections of the king D. Fernando II and his son D. Luís I, diplomatic gifts and even the Germain Tableware, so named because it was commissioned from the goldsmith François-Thomas Germain after the 1755 earthquake.
The Wall Painting
Mural paintings, begun in 1802, occupy a prominent place in the palace, a result of the decorative programs carried out in the first decades of the 19th century, which aimed to perpetuate the glorious actions of the "great Portuguese" and the qualities (true or imagined) of some of their sovereigns, occasionally accompanied by expressions of the patriotism of the Portuguese people, as well as signs of a religious nature, symbolized through virtuous representations obtained from classical mythology or Christian iconography, therefore, in these paintings, allegory is a constant presence.
Below are the existing paintings, the places where they were executed and the respective author(s):
Archers' Room
Ceiling - Arms of Portugal and Panoplia; Heroic Virtue.Sobreporta - Panóplia - Manuel Piolti, Vicente Paulo Rocha, João de Deus Moreira de Lourenço and André Monteiro da Cruz
Porter room
Sobreporta - Storming of a castle - José da Cunha TabordaSanca - Prince Regent D. João and Princess Carlota Joaquina - José da Cunha TabordaTecto - Justice and Divine Grace repelling Ignorance - José da Cunha Taborda
Great Waiting Room
Ceiling - Triumphal entry of the Royal Family into the Tagus; Winged female figure; America bidding farewell to the Royal Family; Lusitania receiving the Royal Family; Marine deity - Cirilo Volkmar MachadoOverdoor - Neptune and other minor deities - Cirilo Volkmar Machado
Dog Room
Ceiling - Diana Caçadora - André Monteiro da CruzSanca - Venatory scene - André Monteiro da CruzOverdoors - Peace and Science; Commerce and Industry - José da Cunha Taborda
Dispatch Room
Ceiling - The Aurora carrying Public Happiness followed by Abundance; Flag with the coat of arms of Portugal; The Justice; The Truth - Cirilo Volkmar Machado
D. Luís' room
Central Ceiling - Allegory of Peace with Minerva with olive branch and apple; Hermes - Cirilo Volkmar MachadoScaffolding/Ceiling - Wall with arch in the center and griffin - Cirilo Volkmar Machado
Queen's room
Ceiling - The Glory of the Princes; The Portuguese People receiving the laurels; Strength and Fidelity-Arcângelo FoschiniSanca - Charity; Divine Wisdom; Divine love; Temperance - Arcângelo FoschiniSobreporta - The Triumph of Religion over Heresy - Arcângelo Foschini
Cortejo Staircase
Ceiling - Apollo and the Muses - Norberto José Ribeiro
Noble Staircase
Ceiling - The Lusitanian Monarchy and Valor. About them, the Good Announcement, Eternal Happiness and Fame - Norberto José RibeiroTecto - Time overthrowing Deceit - Norberto José Ribeiro
Room of D. João IV
West Wall - Act of the Solemn Oath of D. João IV on December 15, 1640 - José da Cunha TabordaNorth and South Walls - The petty nobility, bourgeoisie and people attend the ceremony - José da Cunha Taborda Ceiling - Allegory of Justice and Concord with the Genie of Liberation - José da Cunha Taborda (based on a painting by Domingos Sequeira) Sanca - History, Poetry, Music, the Tagus - José da Cunha Taborda
Room of D. João VI
Paredes - Atlas and Africa (North/West); Atlas and Europe (South/East); Atlas and America (North/East); Atlas and Asia (South/West) - Arcângelo FoschiniWest Wall - Allegory of the Happy Return of King John VI. Minerva to the right of the monarch presents the Bases of the Constitution. Over him hovers Eternal Happiness. D. João VI appears in Neptune's car, followed by the other members of the royal family. To his left, Valor indicates the throne, in the presence of Lusitania, seated below - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto - The Council of the Gods with Astreia - Arcângelo Foschini Tecto West/North - Neptune is informed by Mercury of the Council's holding - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto North Top - Amphitrite, with her procession of Tritons and Nereids heading towards the Council - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto East/North - Prothêo, Son of Neptune summoning the maritime cattle to the procession - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto East/South - The Pátrio Tejo distributing the wreaths of flowers by the Tagidas - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto Topo Sul - Father Ocean sitting on a whale and accompanied by his daughters Nereids - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto West/South - Aeolus, receiving orders from the Goddess Juno to send the wind Zefiro and chain the others - Archangel foschini
Throne room
Ceiling - The Heroic Virtue - Máximo Paulino dos Reis and Manuel PioltiSancas - Minerva, Mercury, Apollo and Diana - Máximo Paulino dos Reis and Manuel Piolti Sala dos
Large Dinners
Ceiling - Allegory of the 13th of May, the birthday of King João VI: Apollo, in his chariot, surrounded by hours, follows Aurora; Sign of Gemini, two putti, crying, indicate the number XIII; Genius displaying a scroll with the phrase "In History you have no partner" - José da Cunha Taborda
Diplomatic Corps Room
Central Ceiling - Hercules fighting the Nemean Lion - André Monteiro da CruzSanca - Pompeian motifs - André Monteiro da Cruz
Ladies' Room of the Diplomatic Corps
Ceiling - Book with Latin text; Laurel wreath with the initial M inscribed
Green Room
Ceiling - Composition with Pompeian motifs - Caetano Aires de Andrade
Queen's Portrait Room
Ceiling - Allegory of Peace, Abundance and Harmony, repudiating DiscordSanca - Allegory of the Arts: Dance; the drawing; Painting and Sculpture; the music; the architecture
King's Last Quarters Room
Ceiling - Psyché taken by the zephyrs or AuroraSancas - Allegory of the Arts and reserve with the initial L; Boa Fama, Vitória and reserve with the initial M
Former King's Office
Ceiling - The Genius of Peace or the Genius of Prosperity or the Angel of the Golden Cane
Antechamber of the Chinese Room
Ceiling - Tutelary Angel of the Kingdom protecting the Cardinal Virtues; Angel sporting around his neck a medal with the Royal Effigy of D. Miguel
Room of D. Luís
Ceiling - Semicircle opening with female figures and putti; Female figure leaning on a globe; Lusitanian Monarchy; Genius displaying a couplet inscribed "June 5, 1823"; Heroic Virtue fighting the Furies; Amor Patrio and Minerva overthrowing Vices; Janus, Vulcan, Juno, Neptune and Zephyrus; Our Lady of Conception - Arcângelo FoschiniSanca - Heroic Virtue
Political questions about the Palace
On March 4, 1976, the MDP/CDE Deputy, Levy Baptista, raises in the Assembly of the Republic the problem of works of art from Ajuda sold abroad.
In February 2007, seven years after the sale of 27,000 m² of land intended to reclassify the palace surroundings, the State sold the remaining land there, Quinta do Seminar, an existing walled space of 21,200 m² south of the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda and which was a central part of the plan to safeguard the area, drawn up in 1987. (in Público on 27 February 2007, José António Cerejo).
Full list of Geochaching below:
https://mirror.xyz/madeinpt.eth/I5tjF3sn6ugnUw3nBnKOpOUr2DEh_g6cTN-0hivKCgc
*Released*✅ *Reviewed*✅ Approved✅
Curator Body0xfa056236FBC67e1F40B41b987558F48Ab78666e0 0x35E5Fb283c23d722295ce974fdF1c1B06507490f 0x7Bc11676b7b231D0Fc6E210b185bd85D615310Be 0x989Dfaf2c9Ff9e67B055A74BE928b2599906D3C9 0xD87100cB3f3348c7D9feab81a932f0eACAEeFE56
Versão portuguesa aqui.
GPS 38.70765295622594, -9.197979041104732
The Palácio Nacional da Ajuda or Paço de Nossa Senhora da Ajuda is a Portuguese national monument, located in the parish of Ajuda, in Lisbon.
Its construction began at the end of the 18th century (1795) to replace the Real Barraca, Paço Real so called because it is made of wood. The initial project, by Manuel Caetano de Sousa, underwent a profound change with a new project in 1802. Neoclassical in inspiration, by the architects Francisco Xavier Fabri and José da Costa e Silva, the Palace was inhabited with several interruptions, having remained unfinished. It functioned as a Royal Palace for King D. Luis I (1838-1889), who settled there permanently from 1861. In the vestibule, the 47 statues signed by Portuguese artists deserve special mention.
Closed with the establishment of the Republic in 1910, the interior of the Palace was turned into a museum, from 1968, presenting a relevant collection of furniture, goldwork, silverware and jewellery.
Between 2018 and 2020, work will take place on the "finishing" of the west wing of the palace, which will thus complete the unfinished palace and where a vault will be installed to receive the collection of the Portuguese Crown Jewels.
Former Royal Palace, it is now largely a museum, with the remaining building housing the National Library of Ajuda, the Ministry of Culture, the Painting Gallery of King D. Luís I and the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage. The Palace and the Museum are managed by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and by the Presidency of the Republic.
History
Johannine period
In 1726, D. João V (1689-1750) acquired three farms in the Belém area. The first already had a building that is today the Palace of Belém, the second a hermitage of the Oratory which was later expanded to what is now the Palácio das Necessidades and the third the Quinta da Ajuda reserved for the construction of a royal summer residence. . There the Calçada da Ajuda was torn and a pier was built next to Belém, however no palace was planned.
Pombaline period
The use of Quinta da Ajuda as a Royal Palace took place in the aftermath of the Lisbon earthquake on 1 November 1755, during the reign of Dom José I. The earthquake destroyed practically the entire city of Lisbon, including the King's residence, the old Ribeira Palace, whose complex embraced Terreiro do Paço, next to the Tagus River. The fact not only created material damage, but also created a phobia in the surviving population of Lisbon who now feared an aftershock or even a second shock.
Although the Royal family and the Court met that day in Belém, the western part of the city where the effects of the earthquake were not felt with such intensity, the King was so disturbed by the event that he refused to live in masonry buildings. D.José then had a wooden and fabric palace built on the heights of Ajuda, a place with little seismic activity, which was called Real Barraca or Paço de Madeira.
The work would only be completed in 1761. This construction obeyed, in its beginning, two principles: resistance to earthquakes (thanks to its construction materials) and the absence of masonry. The ground floor and first floor followed the layout of Petrone, Mazone and Veríssimo Jorge.
Its interiors were decorated with the best and most beautiful furniture and large and precious pieces of tapestry, painting and goldwork. The structure grew so large that it was larger in area than the existing palace today.
The court was based there for about three decades in a luxurious atmosphere from the golden age of Enlightened Despotism supported by what shipments of gold and diamonds from Brazil still allowed.
In 1768 the first botanical garden in Lisbon was built around the palace by order of Minister Sebastião José.
D.José lived in the Real Barraca until his death in 1777.
Regency Period
On the date of the death of King D.José, his daughter and successor, D.Maria I, had been living in the Palace of Queluz since her marriage to D.Pedro III. The Real Barraca remained in the background for a few years, although it was often visited by the Queen and her children.
From the 10th of February 1792, due to the Queen's insanity, Prince D.João, the future D.João VI, began directing public affairs, issuing decrees in his name; on July 15, 1799, and until ascending the throne, he assumed power under the title of Prince Regent and began to govern the kingdom.
In 1794, and according to the records, due to the carelessness of a servant with a lamp, a huge fire breaks out that completely destroys the Real Barraca and a large part of its valuable contents – tapestries, paintings, jewellery, furniture – is completely consumed by the fire.
The Parish Tower was saved thanks to the demolition of a walkway that connected it to the Real Barraca during a fire. There are some pieces from the interior of the palace that resisted the fire, which are currently on display at the Museu do Palácio Nacional da Ajuda. And curiously, there are records of the remains of a masonry structure built to support the second floor being found in the rubble.
It is now necessary to build a new palace worthy of hosting the Royal Family. This was not a new idea, even in the time of King João V and the old Paço da Ribeira, this project already existed. Many historians claim that if it weren't for the earthquake, D. José would most likely have completed such a project instead of the provisional structure that ended up burning down.
Prince D. João approves the construction of a new palace from scratch. The outline of the plan is by Manuel Caetano de Sousa (1742-1802) who presents a Baroque project, with the laying of the first stone celebrated on November 9, 1795. Note the peculiarity of the approval of a very important Baroque project in the end of the 18th century. Even at the beginning of this construction, two architects arrived in Portugal from the Bologna school and followers of the new trend of neoclassical inspiration, who influenced Prince D. João, putting the Baroque project aside. These two architects were Francisco Xavier Fabri (1761-1817) and José da Costa e Silva (1747-1819) and were commissioned in 1802 to modify the previous project. It was José da Costa e Silva who defended the use of the structure already built, adapting it to the new project.
The works started in 1795 were interrupted shortly after, due to lack of resources, and the work started again in 1802. In the same year, Caetano de Sousa died, leaving the Palace in the hands of the two architects mentioned.
Costa e Silva and Fabri, maintaining what was then built, introduced the necessary alterations in order to make the new royal palace more dignified, serious and majestic. The general plan was simplified and reduced, as well as the ornamentation, now much more careful.
Construction of the new building was interrupted on several occasions due to recurrent problems at national level, financial and political. The French Invasions stand out which, in 1807, resulted in the transfer of the Royal Family and the Court to Brazil.
In 1807 the teams of painters, sculptors and decorators were already defined, however, the arrival in Lisbon of the Napoleonic troops commanded by Junot resulted in, once again, the interruption of the works in Ajuda. With Costa e Silva in Brazil, it was Fabri who led the works between 1813 and 1817, introducing new changes, including architectural ones, which resulted in a new plan. Fabri's model was, of course, the Reggia di Caserta, designed by Luigi Vanvitelli.
It is from Palácio da Ajuda that Prince D.João writes to his subjects before leaving for Brazil. Although the Invasions were not directly responsible - since the records indicate that Napoleon Bonaparte's envoy, General Junot, gave the order that the works on the palace did not stop - the simultaneous construction of a Royal Palace in Brazil, the Paço of São Cristóvão (significantly damaged in a fire that occurred on the night of September 2, 2018), and other important works in the colony ended up unbalancing investments in the Kingdom in favor of Brazil.
As such, throughout the first half of the 19th century, the works proceeded slowly, with important national artists working on them: Domingos Sequeira (1768-1837), Arcangelo Foschini (1771-1834), Cirilo Wolkmar Machado (1748-1823), Machado de Castro (1731-1822), Joaquim José de Barros Laborão (1762-1820) and João José de Aguiar (1769-1834), who dedicated themselves to the decoration of ceilings and façades.
Period of Liberalism
With António Francisco Rosa taking over the work in 1818, the works continued at a slow pace, so when in 1821, D.João VI returned from Brazil (following the liberal revolution of 1820), the Palace was not yet completed . The facilities only allowed for protocol ceremonies, such as the investiture of the Order of the Garter to D. João VI, in 1823. It was under these conditions that the monarch went to live in the Palácio da Bemposta, where he died on 10 March from 1826.
From that date onwards, the courts rebelled against the funds spent on Ajuda, so work was restarted in 1826 on the initiative of D. Isabel Maria, who sought to make the palace habitable. The project was reduced in half, that is, to a single block.
The east and south wings of Paço da Ajuda were already habitable, and the decoration of their interiors was guided by the Marquise of Alorna, who was invited for this purpose. After the death of the King and still in the same year of 1826, the now Infanta Regent D. Isabel Maria and her sisters D. Maria da Assunção and D. Maria Francisca Benedita came to reside in the new Royal Palace.
In the field of decoration, the atrium would be occupied by numerous sculptures inspired by the iconology of Cesare Ripa and designed by Machado de Castro, who had been in charge of this area since 1802. In these sculptures executed by this master and his disciples, one recognizes the end of a period, as well as the new classicism evident in the work of João José de Aguiar.
In 1828 D.Miguel I is acclaimed King here by the Three Estates gathered in the Courts Room, today the Supper Room.
D.Miguel I even inhabited the Paço da Ajuda for about six months while the Palácio das Necessidades underwent some alterations to be his future official residence.
After the clashes between the liberal and absolutist factions began, the country entered a climate of fragile stability and the works that were proceeding slowly paralyzed in 1833 with the entry of liberal troops in Lisbon.
Once the liberal regime was restored with the victory of his troops, D. Pedro assumed power as Regent until his daughter D. Maria II came of age and swore in the Throne Room of Paço da Ajuda, on 30 August 1834, the Constitutional Charter.
The shaded part is the one that has been built. By this time and for various reasons, the execution of the palace's integral plan had already been put aside. In fact, the concept of power centered in a large palace (as the Paço da Ajuda would have been if completed), from where the King made his decisions surrounded by his Family, Court and Ministers could have fitted into the political panorama of the Regency period. and the New Regime but would no longer have the same place in the new Liberal perspective. In 1833, priority was given to adapting the Monastery of São Bento (closed that year) to the Palácio das Cortes, (later Palácio de São Bento), to house the parliamentary chambers.
In addition, D. Maria II and her second husband, the King-consort D. Fernando II, lived in the newly adapted Palácio das Necessidades. The Paço da Ajuda is thus again in the background - again, as the same happened to the Royal Barracks during the time of Queen D.Maria I - with only a few hand-kissing ceremonies being held on the Court's festive days .
The Palace of Ajuda was thus reduced to sporadic official ceremonies, even after the death of Queen D. Maria II, and during the reign of King D.Pedro V, who arrived to use the Palace to celebrate his Acclamation and Marriage and to visit his friend and royal librarian Alexandre Herculano. D.Pedro V resides with his father and brothers in the Palácio das Necessidades. It would be, however, a tragedy that would end with this relegation of Paço da Ajuda.
Reign of D. Luís
In 1861, an enormous tragedy took place within the Royal Family. At the end of that year, Infantes D. Fernando and D. Augusto fell ill with typhoid fever. Bedridden in the Palácio das Necessidades, they also ended up infecting his brother King D. Pedro V. On 6 November, the dying King heard the tolling of the bells for the death of his young 15-year-old brother, Infante D. Fernando.
Meanwhile, the Infantes D. Luís (future D. Luis I) and D. João, absent on a trip - as they were taking their sister, Infanta D. Antónia to her husband in Belgium - had received news of the serious illness of the Infantes and the contagion of the King. D. Luís and D. João had already sailed from France towards Lisbon. Upon landing in Lisbon, D. Luís was received by dignitaries who, bending the knee, addressed him as “Majesty”. King D. Pedro V, his brother, had died on the 11th of November, and D. Luís learned at the same time of D. Fernando's death. D. Augusto improves, but the newly arrived D. João is infected and ends up succumbing on the 27th of December.
Riots, superstitions, theories and all the voices advise D. Luís to leave the Palace of Necessidades. D. Luís I moves to the Palace of Paço de Arcos for a few months, while work begins to adapt the Palace of Ajuda. At the same time, in a hasty negotiation, a princess is chosen, Maria Pia de Savoy, daughter of the new and first King of Italy Victor Emanuel II. Now in the center of attention, Palácio da Ajuda acquires the true dimension of Paço Real, it will be from that year of 1861 and for the first time in its history, the Royal Residence.
To welcome the new Monarch and his future and already demanding (by letter) 14-year-old Queen, essential works were carried out on the structure of the building, such as roofs, woodwork, windows. There were large orders for carpets, lighting, and furniture.
Everything to provide the spaces with a minimum of comfort, which would allow them to live in.
Queen Maria Pia (1847-1911), upon arriving in Ajuda in 1862, initiated what were the major changes in the interior decoration.
New hygiene, comfort, privacy and individuality rules were introduced, characteristic of the bourgeois mentality of the 19th century.
The decoration, although managed almost entirely to the Queen's taste, was organized and executed by the architect Joaquim Possidónio Narciso da Silva, whose decorative principles were close to Maria Pia's taste.
One can see the compartmentalization of large rooms, such as the old vestibule, divided into three, a room (Winter Garden) flanked by two antechambers (Oak Cabinet and Saxe Room). New divisions are introduced, such as bathrooms equipped with a bathtub and running water, a dining room (called «da Rainha») for the family’s daily meals and leisure areas such as the Music Room, the Blue Room and the Winter Garden. Billiards, Painting Atelier and Chinese Room. Only D. Maria Pia's majestic room, carpeted and decorated in the style of Napoleon III, and her office (Sala Verde) prepared by D. Luís as a surprise for the Queen's arrival remained untouched. These large rooms of the Queen contrasted with the reduced spaces of the King. Different in personality, the simplicity and humility of D. Luís were remarkable in the face of the truly princely and imposing profile of D. Maria Pia. This relationship between the two was concretely manifested in the distribution of spaces and decorative elements in the Palace.
Maria Pia had a chapel built, signed by the modernist architect Miguel Ventura Terra at the time (around 1897) a recently graduated architect, with a scholarship from the School of Beaux-Arts in Paris. The chapel that had been closed since 1910 was reopened in 2014, after restoration. In the chapel there are several paintings such as the Virgin and Child by the painter José Veloso Salgado who is on the altar and the only El Greco in Portugal. With walls dotted with gold stars, a wooden ceiling and large doors with elegant ironwork, the chapel, located in the area of the royal family's apartments, is divided into three parts: an entrance chamber, the body of the chapel and the sacristy.
Ajuda is one of the few Royal Palaces that shows such a marked family side, to the point of being itself a mirror of this relationship. As is the case with the subdivision of D. Luís' bedroom into small spaces into an office, toilette, bedroom and bathroom in the style of a sailor. All these decorative alterations required alterations made from the walls and ceilings, now painted or relined, to the floor, with the placement of «parquets» or carpet coverings.
The filling (furniture, textiles and decorative objects in general) had different origins. Part came from the reserves of the Royal Palaces and the Treasury. Another part was acquired from numerous Portuguese and foreign specialty houses, with D. Maria Pia being a famous promoter and user of catalog shopping, a novelty at the time. The remaining elements would be gifts from different Royal Houses, as well as the trousseau brought from Italy by D. Maria Pia.
The Palácio da Ajuda simultaneously became the scene of grand gala parties – official banquets and receptions – as well as events linked to the daily life of the Royal Family: chamber music concerts, evenings animated by various artists, pool games, wist , and Lotus. D. Maria Pia often asked D. Luís for the Sala do Despacho to organize Christmas and Carnival.
Princes D. Carlos (1863-1908) and D. Afonso (1865-1920) were born here, with their childhood undoubtedly linked to this Palace.
The reign of D. Luís took place under the sign of peace, stability and progress, with the king distinguishing himself for his political impartiality, tolerance and respect for the various party currents. It is during this period that various activities will be developed in the most varied domains.
D. Luís was a lover of all the Arts. Of particular note was the creation, with the help of his father D. Fernando, of the Painting Gallery in the north wing of the Palácio da Ajuda, where a large part of the royal collection was gathered, which, opening to the public in 1869, ended up closing in 1875.
In addition to the works and decorations mentioned above, several other interventions were carried out in the palace during the reign of King Luís. Among them were the arrangements for the marriage of the Crown Prince D.Carlos to the Princess of France, Amélia of Orléans, which included new furniture in the Supper Room, and covering the Throne Room.
The former rooms of the Princes also changed as they grew, with those of D. Carlos disappearing on the occasion of his marriage and his move to the Palace of Belém, which had been the subject of improvements to become the Official Residence of the Dukes of Bragança .
In the last years of his life, D. Luís was a sick man and his stuffy room, shared and with little light, had to be changed by order of the doctors. D. Luís, reluctantly, went to the main floor, to a relatively larger room but with much more air and light, a fact that contributed to a relative improvement in the King's health.
The Queen's Dining Room, the last of the Palace's works, was also completed shortly after the King's death in 1889.
Last Years of the Monarchy
After the death of D. Luís in 1889, D. Carlos, his son, occupies the throne alongside Queen D. Amélia. At that time D. Carlos and D. Amélia were living in Belém with their children, the Royal Prince D. Luís Filipe and Infante D. Manuel (future Manuel II). The Palácio da Ajuda is again in the background. It is inhabited by the Queen Mother, D. Maria Pia, and her son, Infante D. Afonso. Inside the palace, some rooms on the noble floor were reserved for the official ceremonies of the new reign.
Here, state banquets and receptions were held in honor of Edward VII of England, Alfonso XIII of Spain, William II of Germany, Émile Loubet, President of the French Republic, among other state guests who visited Portugal during the reign of King Carlos.
On February 1, 1908, the King and Crown Prince D. Luís Filipe are assassinated. D. Manuel II, who resides in Necessidades, ascends to the throne, continuing the Paço da Ajuda reserved for State ceremonies. D. Maria Pia resided in the palace until October 1910, when the entire Royal Family left Portugal following the establishment of the Republic.
From the First Republic to the present
In the first years of the Republic, the palace was closed, but the Republic's concern with the heritage kept there was great and all the assets of the royal palaces were carefully inventoried. In a second phase, most of the Royal Palaces were almost completely emptied and their contents stored in the Palácio da Ajuda.
As the mother house of the Royal collections, the Palace reopened in 1938 as a Museum.
In 1954, Casa Forte was inaugurated, where the collection of Jewels and Silverware from the Crown was displayed.
As the Palace was still unfinished, in the 1940s Raul Lino was twice in charge of designing the building's finish. None of these projects was carried out.
In 1974, from the 23rd to the 24th of September, a huge fire destroyed the D. Luís Painting Gallery and part of the north wing. According to press reports, this fire would have destroyed a large part of the works of art existing there, in an approximate number of 500 paintings. One of these paintings, authored by Rembrandt (self-portrait), was negotiated in Paris, at Palazzo Galiera, at the end of November 1974, and another, by a famous Italian painter of the 19th century, representing military horse, was sold by Casa Christie's, in London, at the beginning of 1975.
In 1987, the architect Gonçalo Byrne was invited to design the west wing, which remains to be finished.
The Palace Museum contains a true and unique collection of decorative arts with collections ranging from the 15th to the 20th century and features the private apartments and the noble rooms for gala days on two different floors.
Today, as during the monarchy, it is used by the Portuguese State for official ceremonies.
Completion of the Palace (2018-2021)
In November 2014 it was announced that the unfinished façade of the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda was going to be completed. This project does not only include the recovery of the building, it also includes the permanent installation of the Portuguese Crown jewels in the Palace. The exhibition includes a gold nugget considered the largest in the world. Stored in the Mint safe. The 4.4 million euros relating to the insurance of the Portuguese Crown Jewels stolen in Holland in 2002 will be used for this project.
The works began in February 2018 and will end in 2020, with an initial budget of 15 million euros, the budget rose to 21 million euros, due to the requalification of the surrounding public space, the creation of a restaurant and the security project that requires exposure of the Royal Treasury.
The entire project, which also includes the requalification of the public space in Calçada da Ajuda, had an investment value of 31 million euros, mostly made possible by the Lisbon Tourism Development Fund.
The works will complete the western façade of the building, in a modernist style, where the Permanent Exhibition of the Royal Treasury will be installed, with thousands of copies of the crown jewels and jewelery treasures of the Royal Household, in an exhibition space that will be a safe with tight control and security measures.
Palace Collections
The Palace has important collections of decorative arts from the 15th to the 20th century, with highlights from the 18th and 19th centuries, namely: goldwork, jewellery, textiles, furniture, glass and ceramics, as well as collections of painting, engraving, sculpture and photography.
Ceramics
The ceramic collection has around 17,000 pieces in porcelain, earthenware and stoneware, assuming a prominent role in the decorative arts on display. Representative of the stylistic currents of the 20th century. XIX, includes copies dating from the century. XVI to the beginning of the century. XX.
Sculpture
The sculpture collection comprises around 400 works, mostly produced between the first half of the 19th century and the second decade of the 20th century. This collection includes works in marble, bronze, wood, ivory and plaster, from the Italian, Portuguese and French schools. The sculptural values presented are related to the 19th century paradigm, which varies between neoclassicism, romanticism, naturalism and realism and expressions of modernity.
Photography
A notable collection for the variety of authors and species gathered, it is a collection that allows tracing the history of photography in Portugal. It consists of multiple typologies, with numerous formats and types of support where more than 300 photographers are represented.
Jewelery
This collection is characterized by a great diversity of typologies and origins from the end of the 17th century to the end of the 19th century. For security reasons, and the authenticity of the interiors of the palace, most pieces of jewelery are not exposed to the public.
Within this collection there are two main sections:
The Jewels of the Portuguese Crown, consisting predominantly of pieces from the 18th century and of national production. It is a heterogeneous set, due to the diversity of typologies, presenting, however, as a common characteristic, the excellence of the materials and technical and artistic mastery. Included in this core are adornment jewels, weapons that complement the gala uniforms, sumptuous national and foreign honorary insignia and even some raw minerals, from Brazilian gold and diamond exploration.
Everyday Jewelry, consisting of various types of adornment for everyday use, in which 19th-century examples predominate, coming from national workshops, but also from French and Italian workshops.
Metals
This collection includes a vast and heterogeneous collection of utilitarian and decorative pieces, mostly from the 19th century. It includes objects for domestic use, as well as decorative objects of great refinement and technical quality, made in bronze, brass and copper, among others. It is a collection that represents historical revivals and the influence of the East on the decorative arts, also testifying to the influence of industry on the art of working metals during the 19th century.
Furniture
Assembled by the royal household throughout the 2nd half of the 19th century, the furniture at Paço da Ajuda is a mirror of similar European collections. Continuously enriched, the collection exemplifies eclecticism and contrasts, as I like at the time: multiple European styles with oriental, exotic and naturalist influences, combined with the demand for comfort and functionality of the furniture. Collection of Portuguese and foreign authors: Leandro Braga, Sormani, Lelarge, I. Lebas, C. Chevigny, Giroux, Quignon, Boudet, M. Krieger and Escalier de Cristal, among others. Around 80% of the collection can be found in environments created by the royal family, in a disposition ensured by historical criteria.
Jewelery
The jewelery collection comprises a wide variety of types and origins, from the 14th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Three nuclei can be distinguished in its constitution: crown silverware, religious jewelery and decorative and utilitarian silverware.
The core of silverware in the crown brings together pieces from the 17th and 20th centuries. In this core, the crown's main tableware, the Germain Tableware, is of particular importance, commissioned by King José I to François Thomas Germain in the second half of the 18th century; as well as stately silver from the Portuguese royal household, made up mostly of salvers and bowls of great artistic value, which uniquely testify to Portuguese artistic production in the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries.
Religious jewelery brings together objects mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. It includes examples used in the chapels of the royal palaces and assets of the royal household after the extinction of the religious orders in 1834.
The core of decorative and utilitarian silverware is made up of objects related to daily life in the palace, many of them acquired by Queen D. Maria Pia, in the second half of the 19th century. Some of these objects are included in the museological route, according to the historical reconstitution of the 19th century environments. The productions of national, French, English, Austrian and Italian workshops stand out, being quantitatively the most representative core of this collection.
For security reasons, most pieces of jewelery are not exposed to the public.
Painting
Collection consisting of more than 450 oil paintings, to which approximately 880 copies must be added, including watercolors, drawings, pastels and sketches. Its origin was inherited from royal collections, part of which was part of the King Luís Painting Gallery. Portuguese painters and painters from various European schools, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, are represented. The collection offers a diverse theme, with emphasis on the nucleus of aulic painting (painting related to the palace and the court).
Textiles
Collection formed from the collection of the former Royal House. The textile collection is characterized by a great diversity of typologies, techniques, places and dates of origin. It comprises artistic objects from the former royal collections, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, in particular, collections of 18th-century European tapestries, doormats and vestments of the Royal Chapel, clothing and ornamental pieces and a set of objects related to everyday life. of the Royal Family, from the second half of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, until the establishment of the republic, consisting of items such as household linen, rugs, doormats, curtains, woven and/or embroidered upholstery and trade dress religious.
Costumes
Essentially made up of pieces related to the daily life of the Royal Family and the palace in the second half of the 19th century. Of note from this collection are the 2 royal mantles, with important symbolic and historical value, the military uniforms of kings D. Luís I and D. Carlos I and the Princes, important testimonies of experiences and documented historical facts. The collection also has pieces of civilian attire by D. Luís, D. Maria Pia and the princes. Among the objects used by the queen, a collection of fans stands out as accessories. It is also a testimony of the experiences of the palace, although incomplete, the set of costumes of the employees of the Royal House.
Utensils
The collection of utensils and equipment consists of pieces from the former Portuguese royal house and some donations, mostly from the 19th century. It includes approximately 2000 pieces of great diversity with different techniques and origins, such as the old kitchen equipment of the Royal House, pieces related to tableware, picnic, vanity and painting cases, utensils used for heating the palace, such as salamanders , stoves and accessories, lighting fixtures, smoking equipment, some personal objects, among others.
Glass
The palace's glass collection comprises around 12,500 pieces, from the estate of the former Royal House. Includes utilitarian and decorative glass, lamp and glazing. The pieces correspond, for the most part, to the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, corresponding to the period (1862-1910) of Queen D. Maria Pia's experience in the palace and resulting from her careful orders and her particular taste for glass, highlighting the large table services. The collection presents examples of the main glass production and commercial centers of this period in Europe, with emphasis on Bohemia, Italy, France, Spain, Austria, England, Germany and Portugal. A collection essentially made up of pieces produced using the blowing technique, demonstrating the main European trends and styles of the time. The glass collection is further enriched by presenting heraldic and individual decorative elements relating to King D. Luís and Queen D. Maria Pia, thus giving it a singular and unique character.
Royal Treasure Museum
The museum, scheduled to open in November 2021, will feature jewels from the royal collection, used in the daily life of the royal family, whether for private use or within the scope of the functions performed, which were passed from generation to generation, in a permanent exhibition. collection of large apparatus silverware, diplomatic gifts, decorations, coins, the famous Germain tableware and also precious raw materials such as gold nuggets, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, from Brazilian mines. The set that will have greater symbolism will be the pieces related to the acclamation of monarchs, namely the crown of Portugal, the scepter and the tiaras. There will be pieces by famous goldsmiths such as Fabergé or Castellani. It is intended that the pieces are explained from a scientific and technical point of view, but also historical and experiential.
At the opening of the new wing, more than 18,000 stones found in the Royal Treasury will be on display, including 31 exceptional emeralds and all of the same color, which makes the collection unique.
The new museum space has a security system of the highest level, the central core of this building, which features a glass structure crossed by vertical blades, will have a vault 40 meters long, ten meters high and ten wide, three floors and two steel doors, with five tons and 40 cm thick each.
The museum will have a permanent exhibition designed in 11 sections, which will include gold and diamonds from Brazil, coins and medals of the Crown, jewels from the former private collections of different members of the royal family, Portuguese 16th-century sages and silverware, the former private collections of the king D. Fernando II and his son D. Luís I, diplomatic gifts and even the Germain Tableware, so named because it was commissioned from the goldsmith François-Thomas Germain after the 1755 earthquake.
The Wall Painting
Mural paintings, begun in 1802, occupy a prominent place in the palace, a result of the decorative programs carried out in the first decades of the 19th century, which aimed to perpetuate the glorious actions of the "great Portuguese" and the qualities (true or imagined) of some of their sovereigns, occasionally accompanied by expressions of the patriotism of the Portuguese people, as well as signs of a religious nature, symbolized through virtuous representations obtained from classical mythology or Christian iconography, therefore, in these paintings, allegory is a constant presence.
Below are the existing paintings, the places where they were executed and the respective author(s):
Archers' Room
Ceiling - Arms of Portugal and Panoplia; Heroic Virtue.Sobreporta - Panóplia - Manuel Piolti, Vicente Paulo Rocha, João de Deus Moreira de Lourenço and André Monteiro da Cruz
Porter room
Sobreporta - Storming of a castle - José da Cunha TabordaSanca - Prince Regent D. João and Princess Carlota Joaquina - José da Cunha TabordaTecto - Justice and Divine Grace repelling Ignorance - José da Cunha Taborda
Great Waiting Room
Ceiling - Triumphal entry of the Royal Family into the Tagus; Winged female figure; America bidding farewell to the Royal Family; Lusitania receiving the Royal Family; Marine deity - Cirilo Volkmar MachadoOverdoor - Neptune and other minor deities - Cirilo Volkmar Machado
Dog Room
Ceiling - Diana Caçadora - André Monteiro da CruzSanca - Venatory scene - André Monteiro da CruzOverdoors - Peace and Science; Commerce and Industry - José da Cunha Taborda
Dispatch Room
Ceiling - The Aurora carrying Public Happiness followed by Abundance; Flag with the coat of arms of Portugal; The Justice; The Truth - Cirilo Volkmar Machado
D. Luís' room
Central Ceiling - Allegory of Peace with Minerva with olive branch and apple; Hermes - Cirilo Volkmar MachadoScaffolding/Ceiling - Wall with arch in the center and griffin - Cirilo Volkmar Machado
Queen's room
Ceiling - The Glory of the Princes; The Portuguese People receiving the laurels; Strength and Fidelity-Arcângelo FoschiniSanca - Charity; Divine Wisdom; Divine love; Temperance - Arcângelo FoschiniSobreporta - The Triumph of Religion over Heresy - Arcângelo Foschini
Cortejo Staircase
Ceiling - Apollo and the Muses - Norberto José Ribeiro
Noble Staircase
Ceiling - The Lusitanian Monarchy and Valor. About them, the Good Announcement, Eternal Happiness and Fame - Norberto José RibeiroTecto - Time overthrowing Deceit - Norberto José Ribeiro
Room of D. João IV
West Wall - Act of the Solemn Oath of D. João IV on December 15, 1640 - José da Cunha TabordaNorth and South Walls - The petty nobility, bourgeoisie and people attend the ceremony - José da Cunha Taborda Ceiling - Allegory of Justice and Concord with the Genie of Liberation - José da Cunha Taborda (based on a painting by Domingos Sequeira) Sanca - History, Poetry, Music, the Tagus - José da Cunha Taborda
Room of D. João VI
Paredes - Atlas and Africa (North/West); Atlas and Europe (South/East); Atlas and America (North/East); Atlas and Asia (South/West) - Arcângelo FoschiniWest Wall - Allegory of the Happy Return of King John VI. Minerva to the right of the monarch presents the Bases of the Constitution. Over him hovers Eternal Happiness. D. João VI appears in Neptune's car, followed by the other members of the royal family. To his left, Valor indicates the throne, in the presence of Lusitania, seated below - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto - The Council of the Gods with Astreia - Arcângelo Foschini Tecto West/North - Neptune is informed by Mercury of the Council's holding - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto North Top - Amphitrite, with her procession of Tritons and Nereids heading towards the Council - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto East/North - Prothêo, Son of Neptune summoning the maritime cattle to the procession - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto East/South - The Pátrio Tejo distributing the wreaths of flowers by the Tagidas - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto Topo Sul - Father Ocean sitting on a whale and accompanied by his daughters Nereids - Arcângelo FoschiniTecto West/South - Aeolus, receiving orders from the Goddess Juno to send the wind Zefiro and chain the others - Archangel foschini
Throne room
Ceiling - The Heroic Virtue - Máximo Paulino dos Reis and Manuel PioltiSancas - Minerva, Mercury, Apollo and Diana - Máximo Paulino dos Reis and Manuel Piolti Sala dos
Large Dinners
Ceiling - Allegory of the 13th of May, the birthday of King João VI: Apollo, in his chariot, surrounded by hours, follows Aurora; Sign of Gemini, two putti, crying, indicate the number XIII; Genius displaying a scroll with the phrase "In History you have no partner" - José da Cunha Taborda
Diplomatic Corps Room
Central Ceiling - Hercules fighting the Nemean Lion - André Monteiro da CruzSanca - Pompeian motifs - André Monteiro da Cruz
Ladies' Room of the Diplomatic Corps
Ceiling - Book with Latin text; Laurel wreath with the initial M inscribed
Green Room
Ceiling - Composition with Pompeian motifs - Caetano Aires de Andrade
Queen's Portrait Room
Ceiling - Allegory of Peace, Abundance and Harmony, repudiating DiscordSanca - Allegory of the Arts: Dance; the drawing; Painting and Sculpture; the music; the architecture
King's Last Quarters Room
Ceiling - Psyché taken by the zephyrs or AuroraSancas - Allegory of the Arts and reserve with the initial L; Boa Fama, Vitória and reserve with the initial M
Former King's Office
Ceiling - The Genius of Peace or the Genius of Prosperity or the Angel of the Golden Cane
Antechamber of the Chinese Room
Ceiling - Tutelary Angel of the Kingdom protecting the Cardinal Virtues; Angel sporting around his neck a medal with the Royal Effigy of D. Miguel
Room of D. Luís
Ceiling - Semicircle opening with female figures and putti; Female figure leaning on a globe; Lusitanian Monarchy; Genius displaying a couplet inscribed "June 5, 1823"; Heroic Virtue fighting the Furies; Amor Patrio and Minerva overthrowing Vices; Janus, Vulcan, Juno, Neptune and Zephyrus; Our Lady of Conception - Arcângelo FoschiniSanca - Heroic Virtue
Political questions about the Palace
On March 4, 1976, the MDP/CDE Deputy, Levy Baptista, raises in the Assembly of the Republic the problem of works of art from Ajuda sold abroad.
In February 2007, seven years after the sale of 27,000 m² of land intended to reclassify the palace surroundings, the State sold the remaining land there, Quinta do Seminar, an existing walled space of 21,200 m² south of the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda and which was a central part of the plan to safeguard the area, drawn up in 1987. (in Público on 27 February 2007, José António Cerejo).
Full list of Geochaching below:
https://mirror.xyz/madeinpt.eth/I5tjF3sn6ugnUw3nBnKOpOUr2DEh_g6cTN-0hivKCgc
*Released*✅ *Reviewed*✅ Approved✅
Curator Body0xfa056236FBC67e1F40B41b987558F48Ab78666e0 0x35E5Fb283c23d722295ce974fdF1c1B06507490f 0x7Bc11676b7b231D0Fc6E210b185bd85D615310Be 0x989Dfaf2c9Ff9e67B055A74BE928b2599906D3C9 0xD87100cB3f3348c7D9feab81a932f0eACAEeFE56
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