Pena Palace and Pena Park, Portugal

Pena Palace and Pena Park - details and images

The palace is located in the eastern part of Pena Park, you must move to reach the steep ramp which Eschwege Baron built to gain access to the creneted building. Pena Palace stands on a steep cliff, which is the second highest point of Serra de Sintra (above the palace only at Cruz Alta is located at 528 m altitude). The palace itself is made up of two wings: the old Manueline monastery of the Order of Saint Jerome and a wing built in the nineteenth century by D. Fernando II. These wings are surrounded by a third architectural structure, in which an imaginary fantasy fantasy castle rounds with crenels and crenels, guard towers, an access tunnel and even a mobile bridge.

In 1838 King Ferdinand II acquired the former Monastery of Jeronimos the Virgin of Pena, who was raised to the top of the Serra de Sintra in 1511 by King Manuel I and left vacant in 1834 with the disappearance of religious orders. The monastery and dependencies, the chapel, the sacristy, and the bell tower, now forming the northern core of Pena Palace, or the Palazzo Vecchio, were built.

Detailed drawing with representation of Pena Monastery, Duarte d'Armas. The Book of Forces, 1509
D. Fernando began by repairing the old monastery, which, according to the sources of time, was in very bad condition. He remodeled the entire floor, replacing the 14 cells with larger rooms and covering them with the vaults we see today. Around 1843, the King decided to extend the Palace through a new wing, with larger rooms, as exemplified by the Main Hall, filming with a circular tower next to the new kitchens. The work was directed by the Baron of Eschwege.

In the 1994 renovation, the original colors were restored outside the palace: pink for the old monastery, ocher for the New Palace.

By transforming an old monastery into a dwelling residence, Ferdinand has shown a strong influence of German romance, and is probably inspired by the castles of Stolzenfels Rin and Rheinstein, as well as the Babelsberg residence in Potsdam. The works of Palácio da Pena ended in the mid-1860s, although interior decoration campaigns were subsequently carried out.

Ferdinand also had the Parque da Pena plant in the surrounding areas of the palace as romantic gardens with winding alleys, pavilions and stone benches to score the route as well as trees and other plants from the four corners of the world, taking advantage of the climate damp from the Sintra mountain range and creating an exotic park with more than 500 tree species.

View to Cabana Condessa D'Edla.
Cabin Condessa D'Edla.
The most interesting building in Pena Park is Chalet da Condessa (or Casa do Regalo), located at the western end of Pena Park. It was built by D. Fernando II and the upcoming future wife, Elise Hensler (Contesa de Edla), as a reserved summer resort. It is a two-storey building with a high-pitched, high-alpine inspired landscape that maintains an expressive visual relationship with the Palace.

Pena Palace was classified as a national monument in 1910 and is part of the cultural landscape of Sintra, classified by UNESCO as a world heritage site since 1995.

In 2013 it became part of the European Network of Royal Residence.


Program: open daily
Park
Until 23.03.2019: 10.00 - 18.00
After 23.03.2019: 09.30 - 20.00

Palace
Until 23.03.2019: 10.00 - 18.00,
After 23/03/2019: from 09h30 to 19h00,

PALACE + PARK prices
18 and 64 years - 14 euros
6 and 17 years - 12.5 euros
over 65 - 12.5 euros
family ticket 2 + 2 - € 49

PARK
18 and 64 years - 7.50 euro
6 and 17 years) - 6.5 euros
over 65 years - 6.5 euros
family ticket (2 + 2) - € 26

Includes Chalet della Condessa d'Edla entrance
Hop On Hop Off - Parque da Pena circuit: included in the ticket

Address: Estrada da Pena, 2710-609 Sintra, Portugal

Site official
https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/parques-jardins-e-monumentos/parque-e-palacio-nacional-da-pena/

Information source