Secrets of Queluz Palace

With almost 250 years of history, it is among the most beautiful and important palaces in the country, but it is still an illustrious unknown to many tourists, Portuguese included, keeping countless secrets and curiosities that are worth discovering.

Before you go there, find out everything you'd like to know about this unique building that has enchanted kings, queens and... visitors.

Queluz National Palace was built between 1747 and 1786 by the Infante Dom Pedro, the future Dom Pedro III, the title he received after marrying his niece, the future Queen Maria I.

This imposing building began as a summer residence for the royal family, but became a permanent residence in 1794.

Both the palace and the garden reveal strong French and Italian influences, as well as the taste of the Portuguese court in the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection integrates baroque, rocaille, and neoclassical elements.

Among the palace's many rooms are the Ambassadors' Room, the Chapel, an example of national rococo, the Music Room, and the Throne Room.

One of the most recent wings of the palace, the D. Maria Pavilion, is now used as a residence for foreign heads of state visiting Portugal.

It was in one of the rooms of the palace, the Quixote Room, that Pedro IV, King of Portugal and Emperor of Brazil, was born and died. The name of this room is due to the paintings it displays, with scenes from the life of Don Quixote of La Mancha.

The palace has an area with beast cages, built in 1822 to house lionesses, tigers, monkeys, and other animals. A veritable zoo exclusive to royalty.

Its gardens have much to visit and to get to know. A reference of Baroque-Rococo in Portugal, the palace gardens are occupied by dozens of statues, fountains, lakes, a vegetable garden, and a portico of fame, just to give a few examples. With plants from the four corners of the world, one of the ex-libris of the exterior is the Botanical Garden, created in 1770, which features four greenhouses with plants from different parts of the world.

The National Palace of Queluz is home to the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art, created to promote the tradition of the old Picaria Real, the academy of the Portuguese court, was founded in 1979 and has been established at the Royal Palace of Queluz since 1996. The school is in charge of 49 Lusitano Alter do Real horses, bred at the Alter Stud Farm in the Alto Alentejo, established in 1748 by João V of Portugal.

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