Guys, I am kicking off the next leg of my series ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ง ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ยฎ๏ธ(๐ here) Today I will show you around the very very beautiful Castle and Park of Monserrate, Sintra. As I wrote in the first part of these series, the attractions in and in the proximity of Lisbon are not ordered by priority but randomly and all pics are taken randomly from my Lisbon collection as well. I used to live in this city for about two years starting from the last months of 2019 until recently.
It is kinda place that makes difference and is in Sintra, the top tourist city situated just 25 km from the capital. So I am back here as it turns out that number 6 of my series is again related to Sintra.
๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ / ๐พ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐
The creation story of the park is fascinating enough for a fat book or a multi-story costumed and brilliant TV series.
Monserrat is a revered place, in the truest sense of the word. The first authentic stories about it are the following ones: in 12 th century on the top of the hill, where the palace is located nowadays, there was a small and prideful Moorish fortress. The owner of this castle, a Moor of course, had a dispute with a Christian governor of the nearby impressive Castelo dos Mouros, which had been recaptured from the Muslims once again.
It was a turbulent time, the Reconquista, and the Portuguese then were fighting for liberation. The fruitful hills and the exceptional microclimate of Sintra were of great value to both sides. Yes, about the microclimate: Lisbonairs even nowadays run away from the summer heat, it is always a few degrees cooler in Sintra than in the city.
The fight was terrible, then: the governor, the Moor, and a bunch of other noblemen died. And here, keep in mind, we witness a genuine act of knightly honor, intolerance and respect for the individual: all the fallen, no matter what religion, were buried next to the little Moorish palace. The Muslims who were defending it and the Christians who were seeking to conquer it. Each one was given military honors and paid his last respects according to his religion.
Whatever, once Afonso Henriques, the ruler of the Portuguese forces at that time, captured Lisbon, and Sintra gave up without putting a fight. The small Moorish castle was razed and, in its place, a small chapel in honor of the Virgin Mary was erected by order of the king.
In 1540 Lisbon's All Saints' Hospital, which had obtained possession of the land, built a new chapel not far from the Moorish knight's tomb. The monk who was in charge of the area made a pilgrimage to the famous Catalan monastery of Monserrat, and on this occasion he vowed to revive something Christian back on his homeland.
After all, the natives started to call the new chapel and the whole with the new name of Monserrat.
In the late 18 th century the property was sold to a wealthy English businessman. So in 1790 the British businessman paid for the green hill and began the history of Monserrat as we know it today.
Anyway, keeping with the fashion of his time, this guy cleared out the space and built a neo-Gothic style palace. In the mid- 19th century, Monserrat became the object of interest of another rich British guy. The Cooke family bought the land cheaply from the previous owner and started to build the palace or most correctly to say to rebuild it, ornate it etc.
The Cook family kept up with the fashions. Is that why the house was built, with a mixture of Gothic, Moorish and Indian styles. About 500 hundred people worked on the decoration of the castle at the same time. The walls, ceilings, and the stairs are decorated in a perfect style, all are very fine, truly unique work.
The new owner, the Crooks, began to seriously invest in the park and gardens, which, in fact, made Monserrat one of the such a cool place we know it today. The Cooks, however, took care of the park and lawns first of all.
You have to credit the landscapers that they hired. They have not destroyed all the living things. Instead, they maximally preserved the natural beauty of Monserrat.
They placed the most advanced irrigation system, through which the lawns of Monserrat, by the way, the only ones in Portugal, have remained green all year round.
The Cooks invested a lot in Monserrat. So putting the pieces together:
They built a palace, created a formal park, imported a collection of cacti from Mexico.
and created the largest collection of ferns in Portugal and the gardens are very extensive and lush with a wide variety of subtropical trees.
The rare plants were brought to the estate from all over the world, which made the Monserrat Park to be regarded in at that times England as a pattern to be closely followed, even though it was in another country.
But in 1947, being unable to maintain the estate in a proper condition and pay property taxes, the British decided to sell Monserrat to the Portuguese government. The government was hesitant in the beginning and could not decide whether it needed it or not.
As a result, Monserrat ended up in the hands of land speculator, who bought it from the Cooks and tried to sell it piecemeal. The idea of fragmenting the national wealth awakened the Portuguese government, and the greedy government chipped in money to get it back.
Monserrat is currently a museum. Because the palace is still under restoration, the administration refrains from hosting concerts and large - scale cultural events there for the time being. But you are welcome to take a walk around the park and enjoy the palace, which looks like a luxurious, exquisite and very strange toy.
Thanks guys for stopping by!
๐ฝ๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ก๐ ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐ก ๐ข๐:
๐โ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐๐. ๐ต๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐๐โ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก, ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐. ๐ผ๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐.
๐ผ'๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ก๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ก'๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก ๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐. ๐โ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐๐!
๐ป๐๐โ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ก!
