Queluz National Palace Portugal | Escape to Exquisite Gardens with Relaxing Music No Voice

Sit back and enjoy this relaxing tour of the beautiful gardens of Queluz National Palace of Portugal, set to relaxing music with no voice to distract from the exquisite aesthetic. Close to both Sintra and Lisbon, the National Palace of Queluz and its historical gardens are one of the most remarkable examples of the harmonious link between landscape and palatial architecture in Portugal. The Palace is located in Queluz, a city that is part of the Sintra Municipality, in the Lisbon District, on the Portuguese Riviera. The Queluz National Palace Gardens illustrate the environment and lifestyle which the Royal Family and the Portuguese Court enjoyed in the second half of the 18th century and the early 19th century, while, at the same time, showing how tastes developed in this period marked by the Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassicism. One of the last great Rococo buildings to be designed in Europe, the palace was built as a summer retreat for King Joseph I's brother, Peter of Braganza. He became King Peter III through his marriage to his own niece, Queen Maria I. The Palace eventually served as a discreet place of incarceration for Maria I, when she became afflicted by severe mental illness in the years following Peter III's death in 1786. Work on the palace began in 1747 under Portuguese architect Mateus Vicente de Oliveira. The Palace is often referred to as the "Portuguese Versailles" because of its opulence. The gardens contain statues inspired by characters derived from classical mythology. They stand along paths laid out in various parterre gardens, such as the Hanging Garden and the Malta Garden, in an assemblage of designs. A series of avenues radiate from the main building, which, in turn, are linked to others, forming a complex geometrical grid containing lakes and water features where paths intersect. The gardens also contain a fountain with tritons and dolphins which has been attributed to Bernini The largest water feature is the Medallions Lake created by the French architect Jean-Baptiste Robillion in 1764 and takes the form of a star-like octagon. The main feature of the principal parterre is the "Portico dos Cavalinhos", a garden temple flanked by two figurative equestrian statues and two sphinxes oddly dressed in 18th-century costume. As well as the French style, there's an influence of Flemish design with the addition of canals. The largest of which lies at the foot of the Lion's Staircase. Over 325 feet long with walls decorated with tiled panels depicting seascapes and associated scenes. During the 18th century, the canals were the setting for festivals where fully rigged ships would sail in processions. Deeper in the gardens is a grotto complete with a cascade. Later to be a popular feature in Portuguese gardens, the Queluz cascade was the first artificial waterfall to be constructed near Lisbon Queluz National Palace Gardens are a part of Parques de Sintra , an organization that manages8 important natural and cultural values situated within the cultural landscape of Sintra and in Queluz. #BeautifulGarden #Garden #Gardentour