Imagine immersing yourself in the blue of the sea. Here you can find that blue in the garden walls of the Marquis Fronteira's palace.
The intense blue color of the garden walls ©Maria Paola Gemma
The Fronteira Palace was built as a summer residence for the Mascarenha family just outside the center of Lisbon. A quiet and peaceful place even though the city center is just a few minutes away by bus.
Today, this unique palace still houses the heir of the family Fronteira making the history of this building still alive.
How nice is it to know that a historic building still houses the original family?
The date of construction is uncertain but it is known with certainty that the central part of the palace was completed in 1670 (in 1669 Cosimo III de Medici, busy on a tour of Europe, visited the palace).
Following the terrible earthquake that struck Lisbon in 1755, the Fronteira family left their main residence in the center of the city to move to this more secluded residence surrounded by nature.
Precisely because the heirs of the Fronteira family still live in the palace today, some rooms are for private use and not accessible but the most important and representative rooms can be visited even accompanied by an internal guide (furthermore it is not allowed to take photos of the interior of the palace but only the gardens).
View of the garden from the palace terrace ©Maria Paola Gemma
The first Marquis of Fronteira Dom João Mascarenhas and his wife Madalena de Castro ordered decorations with azulejos, the typical Portuguese ceramics still visible today both inside and outside the palace. They are of great value given their dating to the 17th century and the themes they represent. The ceramic depictions celebrate the Portuguese Restoration which took place between 1640 and 1668. The ceramics are a tribute not only to the artistic workers of the time, but above all to Portugal's independence from Spain and its birth as an autonomous country.
The internal rooms that can be visited are: Battle Room, Dining Room and Juno Room.
With the internal guide it is also possible to visit the small family chapel, a 16th century jewel adorned with a mosaic made of real shells, glass and ceramics.
The rest of the garden is an Italian style garden where you can see the Gallery of Kings, a terrace with busts of kings from the Portuguese and Philippine dynasties. As mentioned above, both the palace and the garden are decorated with beautiful Portuguese ceramics depicting battle scenes celebrating the Portuguese Restoration, furthermore the garden features deep blue plaster which immerses you in another almost magical place. It's like taking a dip in the sea.
Italian style garden ©Maria Paola Gemma
The Gallery of the Kings is decorated with niches in which the stone busts of the Portuguese kings and the Philippine dynasty are positioned surrounded by azulejos and bronze which were supposed to reflect the sunlight and create an effect of wonder in those who visited the garden.
It is no coincidence that this is the gallery of the kings, the Fronteira therefore wanted to create a spectacular effect on those who visited them.
Azulejos in the garden ©Maria Paola Gemma
Details of the Gallery of Kings with azulejos and copper ©Maria Paola Gemma
A visit to this palace will only enrich your trip to Lisbon by showing you the taste of a 17th century Portuguese residence characterized by decorative elements rich in history and a lively artistic taste in harmony with the surrounding nature.
2 visit options:
€15 guided tour inside the palace and the little chapel and free visit to the gardens
€7 exclusive visit to the gardens with audio guide ( the little chapel is not included)
I recommend you also see the inside of the palace and the small chapel, it's totally worth it!
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