page_title: Palace of Queluz
section_title: Exterior
hierarchical_section_title: Palace of Queluz / Exterior
caption_attribution_description: Oh happy days!
context_page_description: The Palace of Queluz is an 18th-century palace located at Queluz, a city of the Sintra Municipality, in the Lisbon District, on the Portuguese Riviera. One of the last great Rococo buildings to be designed in Europe, the palace was conceived as a summer retreat for Dom Pedro of Braganza, later to become husband and then king consort to his own niece, Queen Maria I. It served as a discreet place of incarceration for Queen Maria as her descent into madness continued in the years following Dom Pedro's death in 1786. Following the destruction by fire of the Ajuda Palace in 1794, Queluz Palace became the official residence of the Portuguese prince regent John VI, and his family and remained so until the royal family fled to the Portuguese colony of Brazil in 1807 following the French invasion of Portugal.
  Work on the palace began in 1747 under Portuguese architect Mateus Vicente de Oliveira. Despite being far smaller, the palace is often referred to as the Portuguese Versailles. From 1826, the palace slowly fell from favour with the Portuguese sovereigns. In 1908, it became the property of the state.
context_section_description: The public façade of the palace faces directly onto a town square and takes the form of two low, symmetrical, quadrant wings which flank the forward-reaching wings of a small central corps de logis, thus forming a semi-circular cour d'honneur (see key 1). The southern of the two quadrant wings is terminated by the onion-domed chapel, while the northern wing contained the kitchens and servants' quarters (see keys 2, 1 and 13). The only decoration comes from the simple classical pediments above the windows. This façade, that most readily seen from the town, presents a decorous and impassive public face with one of the most architecturally severe elevations of the palace (see illustration right).
  Oliveira was directly responsible for the "Ceremonial Façade" of the "corps de logis", the rectangular block which forms the nucleus of the palace, and some of the interior courtyards. His former tutor, the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Robillon, was in charge of the gardens, many buildings, and the Rococo interiors. He in turn was assisted by Jean-Baptiste Pillement and other French and Portuguese artists. The "Ceremonial Façade" is the best-known view of the palace. With classical proportions, it is externally decorated by travertine rendering and delicately carved cartouches over the windows. It has been described as a "harmonious example of Portuguese Baroque". This façade with its single-storey flanking wings forms a three-sided courtyard containing the "Hanging Garden"—so called because like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon it is on a raised terrace (see key 5).
  The second major part of the palace is the great western wing, known as the Robillon wing or Robillon Pavilion, which illustrates better than any other the excesses of Baroque and Rococo architecture (see key 9). Completed in 1779, it has a doric colonnade which runs the entire length of its western and southern façades, the roof of which provides a balustraded balcony accessible from the floor above (see key 10). Owing to the topography of the site, the eastern side appears as a single-storey building, with only the upper floor visible above the ground in the "Hanging Garden". The balustrade on the roof of the Robillon wing is broken by heavy segmental pediments adorned with reclining statuary figures; the balustrade itself is also adorned with flambeaux, statuary and heavy armorial trophies (see illustration below).
  The Robillon wing contains an entrance to the palace reached by flights of ingeniously designed graduated steps. Their design creates an illusion of a longer and higher perspective, centred on a corner of a terrace because of exigencies of the site, and divided mid-flight so as not to lead the eye and footstep towards an angle of the colonnade beyond. The steps are adorned with elaborate statuary (see key 11). The bays of the façade are stuccoed rose-pink, contrasting with the motifs and pilasters in natural stone (see illustration).
  In 1760, Pombal arranged for Dom Pedro to marry the king's unstable daughter Maria, the heiress to the throne. Pombal encouraged the couple to live with their children in the unfinished palace at Queluz, away from the seat of government. It had always been a favourite retreat of the couple and was their principal home before Maria's accession. Further enlargements were made to reflect the palace's elevation from country retreat to royal palace. However, Maria had dismissed Pombal on her accession and, as a ruling monarch, she did not have time to while away her hours in the country. Dom Pedro interfered little in affairs of state, preferring to spend his time on religious matters.
  By the death of Dom Pedro in 1786, all the interior work was completed. This was fortunate, as from this period his widow's mental health deteriorated, until in 1794, she and her court took up official and full-time residence at Queluz. There the now completely insane Queen could be hidden from the view of her subjects. Her eldest son, later King João VI, was appointed Regent and ruled from Lisbon and the great palace at Mafra.
  In 2004, the World Monuments
caption: By an unknown architect, the façade of the ballroom wing with its ogee arch is reminiscent of Borromini.[16] This wing with its varying rooflines and swooping pediments illustrates the palace's appearance as a series of pavilions and wings rather than one large mass (see key 6). To the left can be seen the five-stage campanile with floral finials in the town square beyond the cour d'honneur.
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