Palace of Monserrate

Sintra, Portugal

The Monserrate Palace is located in the heart of a landscape park in the Sintra Mountains. Originally, this was a Neo-Gothic 18th century manor, the first of its style in Portugal. William Beckford resided here as a tenant between 1794 and 1795. After Beckford had left, an enchanted Lord Byron visited the romantic and decayed property. In the 19th century, the old manor was reconfigured by the architect Thomas Knowles to its current configuration, as a summer residence for the English magnate Francis Cook. The original plant and volumes were maintained incorporating the then fashionable Venetian Gothic; exotic influences – Islamic and Indian – and overall the reference of a garden pavilion.