Mafra Travel Guide

 solopes Says:  It's a long walk, visiting all the palace. The most remarkable thing is that the luxury placed in the building is not followed inside: many large rooms, well decorated, good artworks, but not the richness I expected.Anyway, the contrast with the eastern side, where, for nine... 

 solopes Says:  Immense, rich, millions spent for... what? It is the greatest monument of the Portuguese baroque, and that is useful nowadays, when tourism became an important industry. But when Europe started the Industrial Revolution couldn't king João V find a better way to use the gold... 

 berenices Says:  The Basilica occupies central location in the vast complex of the monastery. The building of this Basilica was in fulfillment of a vow by the King, D. Joao V, if his wife bore him a child. The construction began in 1717 after a daughter was born to the Queen. The palace and... 

 ElenaKKKK Says:  We got to Mafra from Lisbon - by train to SIntra and after - by bus from Sintra to Mafra and I must say I'd prefer to spend one more day in Lisbon, Sintra or on the oceanside. The travel takes too much time (I'm not sure we chose the best way yo get to), and there is nothing... 

 bambino36 Says:  The impressive Mafra National Palace was commenced in 1717 in the reign of D. João V. This Baroque Palace when finished was enlarged to include 880 rooms and 330 cells for its monks. It also includes a small hospital and pharmacy, and a prize library. The Palace was... 

 bambino36 Says:  Malveira is a small village located 8Km distance from Mafra. In this village, up in the hill we can find several windmills. 

 bambino36 Says:  This small temple is dedicated to Saint André, but even if it's small, it has a heavy look due to it's romanesque-gothic style, dating back from the 13th century. 

 bambino36 Says:  D. João V (1689-1750) was the King that ordered the construction of the Palace. In October 1708 he married Mary Anne, daughter of Leopold I, thus strengthening the alliance with Austria. The series of unsuccessful campaigns which ensued ultimately terminated in a favourable... 

 bambino36 Says:  Created in between the National Palace and the Tapada de Mafra this garden has the ability to join these two values, the architectonic and the ecologic.As a baroque garden it has wide walkways in order to be possible to walk while talking, admiring the garden and it's... 

 solopes Says:  Mafra is said to have more than 450 statues. I spent there 9 months (yes... living INSIDE the monastery), and never found them! "Smashed" by the immense building, it's easy to miss the details. In a couple of recent visits I remenbered it, and could find two of them. Good!... 

 Martin_S. Says:  Really liked several of the paintings here at Mafra. As a general rule have not liked most of the portraits and scenes found in many homes, castles, palaces and the like, they seem to dark and dreary for the most part.The third photo shows a half circle painting, beautifully... 

 Martin_S. Says:  Numerous rooms in Mafra contain some of the furniture used centuries ago, others have musical instruments, like the harpsicord that you seldom (or never) see today. Even the area dedicated to the "patients recovery" was well decorated and created a small private niche where... 

 Martin_S. Says:  Many of the "spaces" in Mafra are enormous, some of the halls seem like airplane landing strips, or soccer fields. Some of these spaces are almost impossible to catch on a regular camera, you need a special wide angle lens. The first photo was taken in the MIDDLE of the... 

 Martin_S. Says:  Okay, so simply put the ceiling is there, like the roof, to keep the rain off your head...Here in Mafra they just made sure that the ceiling was MUCH more decorative. Zohara, my wife always laughs at me as I walk around with my eyes toward the ceilings and tend to run into... 

 Martin_S. Says:  Sorry that I was not paying much attention to our guide book here and cannot seperate many of the things that I photographed to a specific location, such as the ceilings or names of halls that you could play soccer in. So where I can, I will label a specific room, but the...