The palace of Mafra
A few weeks ago, I made a stopover at the Palace of Mafra on my way to Ericeira. To be honest, I didn’t expect much from the palace or inform myself beforehand — as I didn’t even know if me and my friends would be going into the building itself. However, I cannot lie that I always was stunned by the beauty of the building whenever I passed it in the past.
The palace was built during the reign of King John V (1717–1750) in fulfilment of a vow to build a monastery if he was blessed with descendants by Queen Mariana. As I was reading the origin story of the palace, my interest awakened. To my surprise, the Queen of Portugal, Queen Mariana, comes originally from Austria — also known for Maria Anna. As a history enthusiast, I’ve always been fascinated in history classes learning more about figures like Maria Theresa, Sisi or Marie Antoinette. However, I cannot remember we ever talked about this specific historic part in classes.
I picked this experience because it is still fresh in mind, and it gave me a chance to learn something new about Portugal and Austria — the country I chose to live and the country I’ve been born.
Being into history, I went from admiring the palace’s beauty to deep dive into it’s historical significance. The place defied my expectations, especially when it came to the Interieur design. I already saw many castles around the world, but usually you always leave the rooms with the thought of “This looks so uncomfortable” or “My legs would have no place” — but the people in this place were very modern. We are talking about a bathtub place with a great view or a huge King Size bed (keep in mind we still talk about 1700).
But the real showstopped was the palace’s library. It is a huge room — around 1000 square meters and packed with 30,000 books covering everything from Elightenment ideas to religious texts. Here is even the first Latin translation of the Quran from 1543. You could clearly feel the energy of knowledge here.
This experience ties in with what we have been talking about in class — finding inspiration outside of our bubble. By going to the Palace of Mafra, I not only learned a piece of Portuguese history but also get upon a new connection to Austria.
