Built in 1747, and expanded in several stages,the National Palace of Queluz has an elegant mix of baroque, rococo, and neoclassicism.
Originally, the future King Consort Dom Pedro III built the palace as a summer retreat. After King Pedro’s death in 1786, the palace served as an asylum of sorts for Queen Maria I as she descended into a tortured madness.
In 1794, the National Palace of Queluz became the permanent residence of the royal family. That is until 1807 when the French invaded Portugal in the Napoleonic Wars. The royal family escaped to Brazil only a day before Napoleon’s troops entered Lisbon.
In 1910, the palace was designated a National Monument and became a member of the Network of European Royal Residences in 2013.