Visit Buçaco Palace

The Royal Palace is located in the National Forest of Buçaco, parish of Luso, municipality of Mealhada, district of Aveiro in Portugal.The building was designed in the last quarter of the 19th century by the Italian architect Luigi Manini, set designer of the National Theater of São Carlos. There were also interventions, in different phases, by the architects Nicola Bigaglia, Manuel Joaquim Norte Júnior and José Alexandre Soares. It has been classified as a Property of Public Interest since 1996.

The current building, in neomanuelino style, is decorated with panelsof tiles, frescos and paintings alluding to the Epic of the Portuguese Discoveries, all of them signed by some of the great masters of the arts. The structure displays profiles of the Tower of Bethlehem carved in stone of Ançã, motifs of the cloister of the Jeronimos Monastery, some arabesques and blooms of the Convent of Christ, claiming a flowery Gothic with romantic episodes in contrast to austere monastic severity.

Its interior highlights outstanding works of art by Portuguese masters of the time, from the collection of tile panels of master Jorge Colaço, evoking the Lusíadas, Gil Vicente's Autos and the Peninsular War, graceful sculptures by António Gonçalves and Costa Mota, paintings by João Vaz illustrating verses from the maritime epic of Luís Vaz de Camões, frescoes by António Ramalho and paintings by Carlos Reis. The furniture includes Portuguese, Indo-Portuguese and Chinese pieces, highlighted by majestic tapestries. Also noteworthy for the Moorish ceiling, the remarkable floor made with exotic woods and the royal gallery.