Palácio de Mafra

Located about an hour north of Lisbon, the immense “must see” baroque Palácio de Mafra is a stunning feat of architectural engineering and craftsmanship and a perfect example of how the vast wealth extracted from Brazil and the Americas was lavishly spent. Built in the 18th century as a Franciscan monastery by King João V, the palace was a gift and show of gratitude to his wife Queen Mary Anne of Austria for bearing his children. The king must have been particularly pleased with his wife because the whole complex covers around 38,000 sq. m, with a jaw-dropping 1,200 rooms, over 4,700 doors and windows and 156 stairways.

The building eventually housed 330 friars plus a vast collection of some 40,000 books. Not surprisingly, building work dragged on for 13 years and mobilised a veritable army of workers that eventually numbered 45,000, plus 7,000 military police who were assigned to keep order at the construction site where 1,382 workers died during the construction process. Nobel book laureate José Saramago refers to the palace in a book called Baltasar and Blimunda, which describes the building process and transportation of giant stone blocks from the quarry to the building site.