The modest little town of Mafra (altitude: 237m/778ft), about 50km/30mi northwest of Lisbon, is widely famed for its enormous monastery palace, the largest complex of the kind in the Iberian peninsula. It is where King Joao V founded the "Mafra school", a major school for instruction in the art of sculpture by teachers that included such leading
artists as José Almeida and Joaquim Machado de Castro.
Townscape
Mafra is an unassuming little town, its center dominated by the enormous monastery palace. The carefully restored 13th/14th C. Gothic church of Santo André, containing the tombs of Dom Diogo de Sousa and his wife, is also worth a visit.