The Buçaco Palace is a former convent that today houses a luxury hotel located in the Buçaco mountain range, in the municipality of

Mealhada Mealhada () is a city and a municipality located in Aveiro District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 20,428, in an area of 110.66 km2. It had 17,043 eligible voters (2006). The city of Mealhada itself has a population of 4,522.

, in central

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

.José Mattoso História de Portugal - Volume 5 1993 - Page 678 "Palace Hotel do Buçaco, por _ Luigi Manini (1848–1936). Depois de terem sido ostas de lado as possibilidades db converter a cerca buçaquina dos frades carmelitas em parque romântico, tal como o havia projectado em Turim, no ano de ..." It is a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

History

The area around the Buçaco Palace was part of a

Discalced Carmelite The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catholic mendicant ...

convent established in 1628. The monks of the Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco not only built a convent but also created a luxurious garden with many species of trees. The garden was supposed to represent

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

(where the order was founded) and the Earthly Paradise. Date from the late 17th century a series of chapels with representations of a ''

Via Crucis The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

'' in the garden. Part of the convent, including the church with

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

altarpieces, is still preserved beside the palace. At the entrance of the old convent, there is a plaque to the

Battle of Bussaco The Battle of Buçaco () or Bussaco was fought on 27 September 1810 during the Peninsular War in the Portuguese mountain range of Serra do Buçaco, resulting in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army. Havin ...

which commemorates the fact that Viscount Wellington, who later became the

Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...

, spent the night in the convent after the battle on 27 September 1810. The Carmelites left Buçaco in 1834 century following the dissolution of the monasteries in Portugal.

Palace Hotel

Late in the century there were plans to turn the ancient convent into a royal residence for Queen Maria Pia, wife of King Luís I. However, difficult political circumstances soon led to the decision to turn the palace into a hotel. The Palace Hotel of Buçaco was built between 1888 and 1907. The first architect was the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Luigi Manini (1848–1936), who designed a Romantic palace in

Neo-Manueline Neo-Manueline is a revival style of architecture which drew from the 16th century Manueline Late Gothic architecture of Portugal. Neo-Manueline constructions have been built across Portugal, Brazil, and the Lusophone, Lusophone world (the former P ...

style, evoking the 16th-century architectural style that characterised the peak of the Portuguese

Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...

. The Buçaco Palace is inspired in iconic

Manueline The Manueline (, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manueline architecture inco ...

buildings like the

Jerónimos Monastery The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery (, ) is a former monastery of the Hieronymites, Order of Saint Jerome near the Tagus river in the parish of Santa Maria de Belém, Belém, in the Lisbon Municipality, Portugal. It became the nec ...

and the

Belém Tower Belém Tower (, ; literally: Bethlehem Tower), officially the Tower of Vincent of Saragossa, Saint Vincent () is a 16th-century fortification located in Lisbon that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers a ...

, both located in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. Manini was succeeded by Nicola Bigaglia, José Alexandre Soares and Manuel Joaquim Norte Júnior, the latter responsible for the annex ''Casa dos Brasões'' (House of the Coat-of-Arms). The inner rooms are richly decorated with Neo-Manueline portals and stucco work imitating Manueline

rib vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...

ing, being also an important showcase of Portuguese painting and sculpture of the early 20th century. The inner walls are also decorated with

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wal ...

(''

azulejo (, ; from the Arabic ) is a form of Portuguese and Spanish painted Tin-glazing, tin-glazed ceramic tilework. ''Azulejos'' are found on the interior and exterior of church (building), churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and nowadays, r ...

'') panels by Jorge Colaço. These panels depict scenes taken from Portuguese literature as well as historical events like the

References

Palace Hotel do Buçaco in the IPPAR website
{{Portuguese Monarchy Topics Palaces in Portugal Royal residences in Portugal Buildings and structures in Aveiro District Hotels in Portugal Buildings and structures in Mealhada National monuments in Aveiro District