Pena Palace, Sintra

신트라 페나 궁전

Pena Palace is a colourful fairy-tale palace on a hilltop in the Sintra Mountains of Portugal, near Lisbon. It is one of the best examples of 19th-century Romanticism in the world, a style that loved legends, castles and dreamy mixtures of old designs. Its red and yellow walls, towers and domes can be seen from far away.

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At a glance

Country: Portugal
Location: Sintra, Portugal
Built: 1854
Type: Palace

Quick answers

Where is Pena Palace, Sintra?

Pena Palace, Sintra is in Sintra, Portugal.

When was Pena Palace, Sintra built?

Pena Palace, Sintra was built in 1854.

A Romanticist palace on a hilltop above Sintra, with red and yellow walls and Moorish domes; part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

King Ferdinand II built it on the ruins of a monastery, and the palace was built between 1842 and 1854. It mixes Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance styles. UNESCO listed it in 1995 as part of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra.

From monastery to palace

A small chapel stood on the hilltop in the Middle Ages, and King Manuel I founded a monastery next to it. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake left the monastery in ruins, although the chapel survived. In 1838 Ferdinand II bought the site and planned a summer palace for the royal family.

Colours and park

The German engineer Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege led the design, while Ferdinand II and Queen Maria II shaped the decoration. Over time the red and yellow walls faded to grey, but they were later restored to their original colours. Around the palace is a forest park of more than 200 hectares with trees and ferns brought from faraway countries.

Today

The Portuguese state bought the palace in 1889, and after the 1910 revolution it became a national monument and museum. It is one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.

Fun facts

King Ferdinand II built it on the ruins of an old monastery.
The palace was built on the ruins of a monastery destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
Its walls once faded to grey before being repainted red and yellow.
The park around it covers more than 200 hectares.
It is one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.