On a forested granite ridge above Lisbon, Moorish rulers, medieval Portuguese kings and nineteenth-century Romantic monarchs each built their own residence, one above the other. The result is a hillside stacked with a Moorish fortress, a medieval royal palace and the eclectic fantasy of the Pena Palace, three very different worlds within a short walk of each other.
At a glance
Sintra sits on the wooded Serra de Sintra, a short distance from Lisbon and well served by train. Three palaces stand within a few kilometres of one another: the Moorish Castle, the National Palace and the Pena Palace, with Queluz National Palace and Monserrate Palace also part of the wider Sintra landscape. The whole cultural landscape, covering the Sintra mountains, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
Key facts
- Location: Serra de Sintra, Lisbon District, Portugal, close to the Atlantic coast.
- Pena Palace: built 1843-1854 for King Fernando II of Portugal, on the site of a 16th-century Hieronymite monastery destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
- Architect: Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege, a German mining engineer for whom Pena was his only major architectural commission.
- National Palace: royal summer residence built up over the 14th to 18th centuries, holding the most important collection of in-situ medieval azulejo tilework in Portugal.
- Moorish Castle: Arab fortress of the 8th to 10th centuries, taken by the Portuguese during the Reconquista in 1147 and restored as a Romantic ruin in the 1840s.
- Heritage status: the Sintra cultural landscape was inscribed by UNESCO in 1995.
History
The hill was fortified by Moorish rulers between the 8th and 10th centuries and passed into Portuguese hands with the Reconquista in 1147, changing hands again before falling definitively under Portuguese control. Its elevation and cooler summer climate made it an attractive retreat for the Portuguese court, and the National Palace grew through the 14th to 16th centuries under kings including Manuel I and João III, alongside a Hieronymite monastery built on the peak of the Serra.
The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1 November 1755, followed by tsunami and fire, devastated Lisbon and also damaged the monastery on the mountain above Sintra. Its ruin and the disruption to church institutions in its wake left the site available for private acquisition. When Fernando II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a German prince married to Queen Maria II, arrived in Sintra in 1838, he was able to buy the ruined monastery cheaply and commission the Pena Palace on its site, built between 1843 and 1854 in a deliberately eclectic Romantic style. Monserrate Palace was rebuilt in similar Gothic and Moorish spirit for the British merchant Francis Cook in the following decade. The abolition of the monarchy in 1910 saw the Pena Palace nationalised, and it survived largely intact into the 20th century. The wider Sintra landscape, including these palaces and the Moorish Castle, was inscribed by UNESCO in 1995.
What you see
The Pena Palace preserves its royal interiors much as the family left them, its rooms furnished in a Romantic idiom that mixes Moorish horseshoe arches, Gothic battlements, Manueline rope ornament and Renaissance detail. On the Triton Arch a carved bas-relief of the Cape of Good Hope, with globe and navigational instruments, survives from the original 16th-century monastery that once stood on the site.
Below the palace, the Moorish Castle’s walls climb the granite crags, restored under Fernando II in the 1840s, with views stretching towards Lisbon, the Atlantic and Setúbal. The National Palace is recognisable from a distance by its twin conical chimneys rising above the royal kitchens, and inside holds rooms named for their tilework and painted ceilings, among them the Magpie Room, the Coat of Arms Room and the Mermaids Room, the latter holding the oldest in-situ tiles in Portugal. Monserrate Palace, rebuilt for Francis Cook in the mid-19th century, combines Gothic and Moorish forms within an arched loggia and stands in a botanical garden of subtropical species developed as a Romantic landscape.
Practical information
- Transport: regular trains run from Lisbon to Sintra station, from which the historic centre and palaces can be reached on foot or by local circular bus linking the National Palace, Moorish Castle and Pena Palace.
- Tickets and hours: check the official Sintra heritage site for current admission arrangements, as these change seasonally.
- Parking: space in central Sintra is limited, particularly in summer, and visitors travelling by car should plan for this.
Getting there
Sintra lies a short train ride from central Lisbon, with frequent services making it an easy day trip. Travellers arriving by car can reach the town via the A5 and IC19 roads from Lisbon, though parking in the centre is restricted.
Nearby
- Queluz National Palace — around 14 km toward Lisbon, an 18th-century royal residence.
- Monserrate Palace — about 4 km west of central Sintra, with its Gothic-Moorish architecture and botanical garden.
- Lisbon — some 29 km away, reachable by regular train.
Sources
- UNESCO
- Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
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