Palace of Ajuda
Encyclopedia : P : PA : PAL : Palace of Ajuda
The National Palace of Ajuda, formerly Royal Palace of Ajuda is a Portuguese neo-classic building, partially destroyed by a fire in 1795, and substituted in the end of the 19th century by the current building. It was classified as a National Monument in 1910.
The building was initially built for the royal family in the exact place where it lived in the times after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake that destroyed the older royal palace. Then king Joseph I of Portugal chose the neighbouring village of Ajuda to camp in a huge complex of luxurious tents where the future royal palace would be built. The construction of the palace started just after the death of Joseph because as a consequence of the earthquake he suffered from a case of claustrophobia. It was only during his daughter Maria II's reign that the palace was built. Unfortunately a fire in 1795 destroyed the majority of the palace but it was reconstructed. It was only a permanent residence of the royal family during the reign of Luis I of Portugal and his wife Italian princess Maria Pia of Savoy.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.