Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Ajuda National Palace



The construction of this palace began in 1796 on the site of a temporary wooden building constructed to house the royal family after the 1755 Earthquake and Tsunami which destroyed the whole downtown Lisbon. When the royal family had to flee to Brazil in 1807, following the invasion of Portugal by French troops (Napoleonic period), the work proceeded very slowly and lasted until the second half of the 19th century, when this huge building finally became a permanent residence of the royal family during the reign of King Luis I and his wife, Maria Pia of Savoy.

23 comments:

Cezar and Léia said...

Magnificent! :)
Léia

TexWisGirl said...

wow!! totally impressive!

Diane said...

Beautiful building, and you caused me to look up the Portuguese Royal family. I see the House of Braganza is still around, and there is a young son who is the Prince of Beira. I visited there many times when we lived in Rhodesia. Great holidays :-) Diane

Sharon said...

It certainly appears to be fit for a king!

Wayne said...

The people really give you a sense of perspective, it's an amazing building.

Lowell said...

Great photos of a majestic building! Wow! And that first photo really zings with the girl included - plus she gives a sense of scale!

Do you ever wonder why "royals" needed such grand palaces? :)

Anonymous said...

Just gorgeous!

Sylvia K said...

I agree with the other, the people do indeed give a sense of perspective and how HUGE it is!! Awesome place and superb captures as always!! Amazing indeed! Hope your week is going well, JM!

RedPat said...

Wow - a magnificent building!

VP said...

Love the first image with the lady providing a perfect patch of color!

Small City Scenes said...

That is totally beautiful. Such detail and thanks for the info too. MB

Karl said...

Impressive I like especially your 1st picture!

cieldequimper said...

Incredible architecture and the floor sets it off perfectly. Fantastic how you caught a fashionista in the middle! Is she texting? :-)

Kay said...

Great sense of perspective in both shots, and a beautiful space it is.

Unknown said...

Worthy to be called a palace! Am happy you mention the royals, for many USA'ers think queen Elizabeth is the only royal in Europe!:):)
Of course being Dutch makes me favor king Willem Alexander and queen Maxima.

wilf said...

Beautiful!

Randy said...

What a beautiful place.

Petrea Burchard said...

JM, is it possible Lisbon is the most beautiful city on earth? You publish so many gorgeous photos I'm beginning to wonder if Paris has a rival.

Babzy.B said...

impressive place , i like the first pic :)

PerthDailyPhoto said...

After all their woes the Royal family ended up living in some pretty spectacular 'digs' hey JM :)

Calendula said...

Such a beautiful place and building! Very good photos of the architecture!

orvokki said...

Beautiful !!

Gunn said...

Wow:)