Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 04/06/2026 18:12:00

Set on the substantial elevated Ajuda hillside in the historic Ajuda district of western Lisbon, the Palacio Nacional da Ajuda is the principal surviving substantial royal palace complex of the wider Portuguese Kingdom of Portugal of the early nineteenth century. The substantial principal palace complex was originally commissioned by King Joao VI in 1796 as the principal new permanent royal residence of the wider Portuguese royal family following the substantial destruction of the various central Lisbon royal palaces during the famous 1755 Lisbon Earthquake. The substantial principal palace was originally designed by the Portuguese architects Manuel Caetano de Sousa and Francisco Xavier Fabri, working with the substantial Italian architect Jose da Costa e Silva. The substantial original 1796 to 1807 construction was substantially interrupted by the famous 1807 French invasion of Portugal during the Napoleonic wars, with the substantial Portuguese royal family fleeing to Brazil immediately before the French arrival. The substantial principal construction resumed during the 1820s and 1830s following the principal return of the Portuguese royal family from Brazil and the principal end of the wider Napoleonic occupation. The substantial principal palace was substantially expanded across the nineteenth century by King Luis I and Queen Maria Pia di Savoia of Italy following their wedding in 1862. The substantial principal expansion programme of the 1860s and 1870s included the substantial various royal apartments in the principal northern wing, the substantial central throne room, the substantial main banqueting hall, the substantial Royal Library and various supplementary state reception rooms across the principal first floor of the wider palace. The substantial principal palace was the principal continuing royal residence of the wider Portuguese royal family continuously from the 1862 royal wedding of King Luis I until the 1910 republican revolution that ended the wider Portuguese monarchy. The substantial famous final wedding of King Manuel II and Queen Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern in 1913 was the principal final substantial state celebration at the principal palace before the substantial post-1910 conversion of the wider palace complex into the current principal museum facility. The substantial principal current arrangement of the palace covers approximately seventy individual rooms across the principal three floors of the substantial main palace building. The substantial principal current displays include the substantial various preserved nineteenth-century royal apartments substantially as they appeared during the principal continuing royal residence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The famous substantial Royal Crown Jewels collection at the principal first floor of the new western wing was reopened to the public in 2024 following a substantial multi-year conservation programme of the principal individual royal regalia objects.