Palacete Almeida Araújo

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Palacete built by the Marquis of Pombal, Henrique José de Carvalho and Melo, for the royal family who, after the fire of the Royal Barraca da Ajuda, this neoclassical building.

Ordered to be built by the 2nd Marquis of Pombal, D. Henrique José de Carvalho e Melo, to accompany the royal family that, after the fire of the Royal Barraca da Ajuda, settled in the palace of Queluz, this palace of neoclassical style recalls, despite the differences scale, the Petit Trianon de Versailles, designed by Gabriel. Situated in front of the Queluz palace, this residence, which was supposed to house the Marquis during the exercise of his duties as a chamberlain, marks another time in Queluz's experience, and prints a neoclassical set design to the place, a solution that never fails to recall the second Seteais façade, created to balance what already existed there. In fact, certain details, such as the windows that are too high in relation to the ground, reveal that this was a building to be seen, rather than to be inhabited. Started after 1795, the palace was not finished in the life of the Marquis, who in 1807 accompanied the royal family to Brazil, where he died. It was acquired, already in the second half of the century by the Counts Almeida and Araújo and, in the following century, by the Dukes of Palmela, who sold it in 1978 to the Headquarters of the Military Government of Lisbon, which still remains there today. With a square plan, the palace develops on two floors, the upper one being smaller than the ground floor, a division that is reflected on the facade by means of a projecting frame. It is linked to the stables building and a boxwood garden, with elevations guided by great regularity and symmetry. The façade, made of a rustic device, is opened by the central portal, with side pilasters that support an entablature decorated by garlands and, on the frame separating the floors, a pediment formed by garlands, accompanied by two reclining figures, converging on the Carvalhos coat of arms. which imposes itself in the center. These figures were sculpted by Francisco Leal Garcia, author, among other works, of the Seteais arch, in Sintra. The windows that are torn in the facade exhibit a continuous frame, with masks and festoons on the upper panels, being extended by the smaller ones on the second floor, in a vertical rhythm that converges to the center, and in the heraldic representation of the Carvalho e Melo family. The interior space is structured according to the oval hall, covered by a dome with a skylight, from which the different divisions of the mansion are distributed. Its walls are decorated with frescoes in trompe l'oeil of allegorical figures and trophies, just like the dome itself. In the rooms, we find the fresco painting again, along with the D. Maria tiles, with representations of landscapes. The architect who designed the Pombal palace is not known, despite the name of José da Costa e Silva, responsible for the layout of the São Carlos Theater and to whom other estates in Sintra are attributed (such as the project for the first Seteais building ), is pointed out by the various researchers as the most likely.