Palácio Nacional da Ajuda

The Palácio Nacional da Ajuda is a relatively new addition to the cityscape of Lisbon. The Royal Family was in their Quinta de Belém when the earthquake of 1755 occurred. The panic that then gripped D. José I led to his refusal to return to inhabit buildings built “in stone and lime”. The solution found for the construction of the new royal house involved choosing a safe place.

The Quinta de Cima located on the top of the Ajuda hill was then chosen for The Royal Palace of Nossa Senhora da Ajuda to be built by D. José I (1714-1777). This building built in wood to better resist earthquakes became known as Paço de Madeira or Real Barraca. It replaced the sumptuous Paço da Ribeira that had been destroyed in the earthquake that devastated Lisbon in November 1755.

The new Paço, habitable since 1761, became the residence of the Court for about three decades. In 1794, during the reign of D. Maria I (1734-1816), a fire destroyed this royal house and a large part of its valuable contents. Manuel Caetano de Sousa, Architect of Public Works, was tasked with designing a new palace of stone and lime, which was designed by the architectural trends of the Baroque style.

This project, begun in 1796 under the regency of the royal prince D. João, was suspended after five years of construction, when, in 1802, Francisco Xavier Fabri and José da Costa e Silva, architects trained in Italy, were commissioned to adapt it to the new neoclassical current. This task, which was later continued by António Francisco Rosa, responsible for the “reduction” layout of the project, was never fully accomplished.

It was with the accession to the throne of D. Luís I (1838-1889), that a new stage began, finally acquiring the true dimension of a royal palace by being chosen as the official residence of the court. From 1861 onwards, indispensable works were carried out on the structure of the building to accommodate the new monarch.

The real changes in interior decoration began in 1862, the year of the king’s marriage to the Princess of Savoy, D. Maria Pia (1847-1911).

A long work of reformulation was then started, which extended to several levels: from the walls to the ceilings – lined, plastered, or repainted – to the floor covering with parquet and carpets, to the choice of furniture for the rooms.  All are ordered from specialized houses, Portuguese or foreign, suppliers of Casa Real. Wedding gifts and goods brought from Italy by the Queen helped to decorate the renovated apartments.

In 1910, when the Republic was inaugurated and the Royal Family was subsequently exiled, the Palace was closed. After a period of visits with restricted access, from 1940 to 1968, made only to those who obtained an “authorization card to visit the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda”, issued by the General Directorate of Public Finance, it opened to the public on 20 August 1968. The palace revealed the environments and collections of the Royal House from the end of the 19th century.

Since 1996, this royal residence has been reconstructed as closely as possible, and several rooms have been restored based on rigorous historical research. In 2007, the Palace, together with the other national palaces, became part of the set of properties protected by the Institute of Museums and Conservation.

In addition to constituting one of the most important decorative arts museum institutions in the country, the Ajuda National Palace is, even today, the scene of protocol ceremonies for the representation of the State.

The Ajuda National Palace includes important collections of decorative arts dating from the 15th to the 20th century. The 18th and 19th-century centers are worth mentioning: jewelry, jewelry, textiles, furniture, glass, and ceramics, as well as the painting, engraving, sculpture, and photography collections.

To maintain the authenticity of the Palace rooms, and also for security reasons, many of the pieces that make up the collections are not exposed to the public. For this reason, it is part of the Palace’s program to promote temporary exhibitions where the pieces kept in reserve are shown. More