Lisbon - Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira

It is certainly worth visiting the somewhat remote private palace and attractive garden of the Mascarenha family on the northern edge of the Parque Florestal de Monsanto.

Joao Mascarenha had the house built in the Italian Renaissance style in 1670. At that time his family lived in Lisbon and only moved here in 1755, after their city residence had been destroyed by the earthquake; members of the family still live on the estate today. In 1989 a foundation was set up to deal with the maintenance of the palace and the garden and the staging of cultural events. The family bears the title of the Count of Mascarenha following an honor bestowed on a Mascarenha during the wars of restoration. In the course of a guided tour an interesting view can be had of some of the rooms. The Sala das Batalhas (Hall of Battles) is decorated with tiles depicting scenes of different encounters, which helped restore to Portugal independence from Spain in 1640. Concerts are sometimes staged in this room, its good acoustics have led to it being used as a recording studio. A private library with 17th C. works has been installed in the formerly open veranda. From here there is a fine view of the well laid out garden. In another room tiles can be seen which are some of the first imported into Portugal from Delft in the 17th C. The pictures show pastoral scenes and hunting scenes as well as musical instruments, from which it can be deduced that a music room was once located here. The Juno room, whose ceiling is painted with a picture of the goddess Juno, is used today as a reception room.

In some of the living rooms and also in the dining room there are striking examples of valuable tiled panels as well as furniture and porcelain from Portugal, France, China and India dating from the 17th C. and the 18th C. and family portraits from the early 19th C.