Why go
The National Palace, São Lázaro chapel and Pena's older monastic fabric connect local buildings to Portugal's maritime era. Sintra was both a royal stop and a home for people involved in exploration, charity and Renaissance culture, giving these sites a broader story than their façades alone.
The full story
Gonçalo de Sintra, from Prince Henry's household, sailed to the African coast in the 1440s; Pedro de Sintra and Soeiro da Costa later extended Portuguese knowledge of that coastline. Back in Sintra, Queen Leonor improved the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. The surviving São Lázaro chapel preserves links to that charitable institution and to the royal couple's emblems. Manuel I then expanded and embellished the town palace, rebuilt São Martinho church and established the monastery of Nossa Senhora da Pena on the mountain in 1511. The monastery's remains were later incorporated into Pena Palace, so the famous Romantic building contains an older chapter. In the sixteenth century, aristocratic houses and country estates also made Sintra a courtly setting. At Quinta da Penha Verde, João de Castro gathered figures associated with art and learning, including Francisco de Holanda. These stories connect exploration abroad with a changing royal and intellectual landscape at home.