Palace of the Marquises of Fronteira

Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira
Native name Portuguese: Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira
250px Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira
Location	Lisbon, Portugal
Portuguese National Monument
Official name: Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira
Type	Property of Interest

The Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira (Portuguese: Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira) is a Portuguese palace located in Lisbon, Portugal.

History

The Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira was built in 1671 as a hunting pavilion to Dom João de Mascarenhas, 1st Marquis of Fronteira, who received his title from King Afonso VI of Portugal for his loyalty to the House of Braganza in the Portuguese Restoration War.

The palace is the private residence of the Marquesses of Fronteira

Palace

The palace is located in a very quiet area, near the Monsanto Forest Park. The house and the garden have glazed tiles representing different themes such as battles or monkeys playing trumpets.

The Room of the Battles has panels representing scenes of the Portuguese Restoration War; one of them shows D. João de Mascarenhas fighting a Spanish general.

The dining room is decorated with portraits representing some members of the Portuguese nobility, painted by artists such as Domingos António de Sequeira.

The chapel, dating from the end of the 16th century, is the oldest part of the palace. The façade is adorned with stones, shells, broken glass and porcelains. It seems that those pieces were used during the palace’s inauguration and were broken on purpose just not to be used again.

In spite of being the current residence of the Marquis of Fronteira some of the rooms, the library and the garden are open to public visits.

The garden

The palace garden, an area of 5,5 hectare, is adorned with Portuguese tiles with pictures that represent the different arts as well as mythological figures. The garden hedges are cut in order to represent the different year seasons. There is also a stone staircase which leads to a wall line with busts of the Kings of Portugal.

File:The Planets (Palácio Fronteira)-1a.jpg

The seven classical planets, associated with the Gods, depicted in the gardens of the Palace Fronteira, Lisbon (17th century). From left to right: the Moon (Diana), Mercury, Venus (Aphrodite), the Sun (Apollo), Mars, Iupiter and Saturn (Chronos)

Sources

• Fronteira Palace: Beautiful Gardens and Spectacular Tilework
• Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira (In Portuguese)
• Palacio de los Marqueses de Fronteira (In Spanish)
• Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira