Cultural places in Portugal

Palace • Cascais, Lisboa

In the Citadel of Cascais, the palace shows how a place of maritime defence was transformed into a royal summer residence and later into a site of state memory. The former governor’s house of the fortress, part of a complex whose story begins in 1488, was adapted by King Luís in 1870 for the royal family. From then on, Cascais changed in scale: the court began to spend time in the town, King Carlos deepened its bond with the sea and, in 1878, one of Portugal’s earliest experiments with electric light illuminated the palace battery. Even today, between the courtyard of honour, the view over the bay, the Arab Room inspired by the Alhambra and the wood panelling from the time of Carlos, one senses that unusual blend of fortress, palace and lived residence. After the proclamation of the Republic, the building passed to the Presidency and, after rehabilitation in the twenty-first century, finally opened to the public.