Why go
The National Palace becomes easier to understand when seen as a political residence, not simply a collection of decorated rooms. Its late medieval expansion followed Sintra's change of allegiance, and later Portuguese kings used it for consequential decisions and ceremonies.
The full story
During the succession crisis of 1383–85, Sintra backed Leonor Teles and her daughter Beatriz, whose marriage linked her claim to the king of Castile. After the Portuguese victory at Aljubarrota, the town submitted without a fight to João I. The new king broke with the custom of granting Sintra to the queen's household and kept the palace under his own control. He undertook substantial work that replaced and enlarged the earlier building. The palace remained a principal royal residence and summer seat into the seventeenth century. João I was there when he decided on the conquest of Ceuta in 1415. Afonso V was born and died there, and João II was acclaimed king there. These events give the National Palace a role beyond architecture: it was a working center of monarchy, where court life and decisions about the kingdom met.