Monserrate Palace - see Pictures here
The Monserrate Palace and gardens is located 4Km away from Sintra
city center.
The history of Monserrate goes back to the times when Portugal was dominated by the moors. In those times, a moor knight lived on the hill where the palace is today, but fought the alcaide of the Moor Castle and died on a duel with him. He was buried by his Christian friends up in the hill. After the reconquest, in the 12th century, by King D. Afonso Henriques, a Chapel was built on that hill. In 1540 a friar ordered the construction of a chapel/sanctuary devoted to Our Lady of Monserrate (thus the name of the Palace and Park) on the place where the grave of the arab knight was. Abandon and the earthquake of 1755 destroyed almost everything.
Around 1790, Gerard DeVisme rented Monserrate. He built the
first neo-gothic palace over the ruins of the old chapel. DeVisme
hasn't lived there for much time and, in 1793, William Beckford, an
english writer, rented those lands and buildings. He used his
fortune to rebuild the buildings and to create the gardens. In 1799
he leaves Portugal and Monserrate was abandoned.
In 1856, Sir Francis Cook, bought Monserrate. He reconstructed the Palace, in a romantic style, with gothic, Indian and Arab suggestions. Using the extraordinary natural conditions, the gardens were recreated but this time with vegetation from several parts of the world.
Today Monserrate is one of Europe's most richly reserved gardens and impresses its visitors with its romantic charm.
The Park of Monserrate is one of the most significant examples of Romantic gardens in Portugal, due to the contributions of its owners and tenants who have successively enriched it since the final years of the 18th century.
It is with gratitude to the romantic spirit of Francis Cook and the intervention of the landscape architect William Stockdale, the botanist William Nevill and the master gardener James Burt that we can find now such a variety of contrasting scenarios in the Park of Monserrate. Sinuous paths winding amidst ruins, ponds and cascades allow contact with ancestral Tree Ferns and the Araucarias from New Zealand and Australia, Agaves and Palm Trees recreate a Mexican atmosphere, whilst the Camellias (camellia japonica), Azaleas, Rhododendrons (Rhododendron arborerum) and Bamboos (Phyllostachys aurea) are reminiscent of a Japanese garden. In this apparent disorder, spontaneous examples of the local flora such as the astonishing Strawberry Trees (Arbutus unedo), the now rare Hollies (Ilex aquifolium) and the imposing Cork Oaks (quercus suber), punctuate and complement the magnificent landscape.
Informations
- ADDRESS: Estrada de Monserrate, Km 4 - Sintra
- PHONE #: +351 219 237 300
- OPEN: All days from 10.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
- PRICE: € 4,50