[김용범의 세계유산] 43. 포르투갈_신트라 (Sintra) : 육지가 끝나고 바다가 시작되는 곳

Sintra is a beautiful resort city, once called the Great Garden of Eden by the English poet Lord Byron. The Sintra Royal Palace, located in the heart of Sintra, was once a fortress during the Islamic Empire. It was rebuilt in the 14th century by King João I and served as the summer residence of the Portuguese royal family for 500 years. The Hall of the Coats of Arms, where the king held his office, is the palace's most beautiful room, its domed ceiling lavishly decorated with the coats of arms of 72 Portuguese noble families. The walls of this room are particularly adorned with azulejos, Portugal's signature blue tiles. Azulejos, derived from the Arabic word meaning "small, beautiful stone," are tile decorations inherited from Islamic culture. Fascinated by the blue tiles, King Manuel I ordered azulejo tiles to be installed throughout the Sintra Royal Palace. Since then, azulejos have become a traditional Portuguese cultural feature. Built by Muslims in the 10th century, the Sintra National Palace is an architecturally significant structure, combining Gothic and Manueline styles with surviving Arabic influences. The Pena Palace, perched atop Mount Sintra, was converted from a 16th-century monastery into a palace by Fernando II in 1839. Its unique architecture blends Islamic, Renaissance, Manueline, and Gothic styles. Traces of the Islamic culture that ruled Portugal for over 400 years, beginning in 711, can be found throughout the palace. A tower at Cabo da Roca, the tip of the Eurasian continent, bears the inscription of Camões' poem, "Here, where the land ends and the sea begins." The glory of Sintra's past, when it ushered in the Age of Exploration and dominated the world's seas, still lives on in this place.