Name of Monument:

Quinta da Regaleira

Location:

Sintra, Portugal

Responsible Institution:

Sintra Parks Monte da Lua, Conservation Company

 About Manor and Gardens of Regaleira, Sintra

Responsible Institution (original language):

Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua, S.A

Date of Monument:

1904–1910

Architect(s) / Master-builder(s):

António Carvalho Monteiro (1848–1920); architect Luigi Manini (1848–1936)

History:

António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro (1848–1920) assisted by Italian architect Luigi Manini conceived The Garden of Quinta da Regaleira as a sacred and symbolic space,

inspired by the Garden of the Desert de Retz in Marly; Torrigiani Garden in Florence amongst others. The choice of its location in Sintra, in the Monte da Lua, was relevant as a sacred site since the Neolithic, associated with legends and rituals of underground worlds.

Carvalho Monteiro as a Mason filled his home with various symbolic references namely Christian, pagan, Neo - Templars and classical literature as Dante`s Divine Comedy. The visiting trail, beyond the ludic aspect aims to recreate the theme of “death and resurrection” like the descent to the darkness before returning to the light.

Description:

A man of inquiring scientific mind and vast culture, Carvalho Monteiro left imprinted in stone his cosmological vision, a synthesis of the spiritual memory of mankind stemmed in the Portuguese Mythical Tradition. The art and architecture of the mansion and the chapel, built in neo-Manueline style, were conjugated with other buildings in the bosom of an Edenic garden. A “Philosopher's Dwelling” par excellence, conveying a message adressed to those who are are fit to engage in the Adventure of self-knowledge, Quinta da Regaleira emerges from the Sintra Cultural Landscape as an example of the Total Oeuvre and as expression of a new mythical territory, where Philosophy, Art and Nature come together.

Citation of this web page:

"Quinta da Regaleira" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;AWE;pt;15;en

MWNF Working Number: PT 022