Mafra National Palace

The Mafra National Palace is a monumental Baroque and Italianized Neoclassical palace-monastery located in Mafra, Portugal. Its dimensions are so huge that it dwarfs the city. The palace-monastery is said to be Portugal's attempt to rival the Spanish palace at Escorial outside Madrid, Spain, but was built more like a response to the power of the Vatican, having the monastery a similar loom to the Pope's official residence.

The palace, which also served as a Franciscan monastery, was built during the reign of King John V (1707-1750), in consequence of a vow made by the king in 1711, who promised to build a convent if his wife, the Queen Mary Anne of Austria, gave him descendants. The birth of his first daughter, the princess Barbara of Braganza, made the king initiate the construction of the palace.

This vast complex is among the most sumptuous Baroque buildings in Portugal and one of the biggest buildings constructed in Europe in the 18th century. The palace was built symmetrically from a central axis, occupied by the basilica, and continues lengthwise through the main façade until two major towers. The structures of the convent are located behind the main façade. The building also includes a major library, with about 40,000 rare books.

The basilica is decorated with several Italian statues and includes six historical pipe organs and two carillons, composed of 92 bells.

CONSTRUCTION

he exact site was chosen in 1713 and purchased in 1716. Construction began by the laying of the first stone on November 17, 1717 with a grand ceremony in the presence of the king, his entire court and the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon.

Initially it was a meager project for a convent of 13 Capuchin friars, who were to observe strict poverty. However, when the flow of gold from Brazil started to arrive in Lisbon in abundance, the king changed his plans and announced the construction of a sumptuous palace along with a much enlarged convent. This immense wealth allowed to king to be a generous patron of arts - the greatest patron of his time according to historians.

He appointed a German goldsmith Johann Friedrich Ludwig (called by the Portuguese : João Frederico Ludovice) as his architect. He had studied architecture in Rome and knew contemporary Italian art. The extent of Ludwig's responsibility is unclear, as several other architects were involved in this project : the Milanese builder Carlos Baptista Garbo, Custódio Vieira, Manuel da Maia and even his own son António. However the application of the same architecture over the whole building suggests the work of Ludwig as the head-architect in charge of the Royal Works (Real Obra).

The construction lasted 13 years and mobilized a vast army of workers from the entire country (a daily average of 15,000 but at the end climbing to 30,000 and a maximum of 45,000), under the command of António Ludovice, the son of the architect. In addition 7,000 soldiers were assigned to preserve order at the construction site. They used 400 kg of gunpowder to blast through the rocks for the laying of foundations. There was even a hospital for the sick or wounded workers. A total of 1,383 workers died during the construction.

The facade is 220 meters long. The whole complex covers 37,790 m² with about 1,200 rooms, more than 4,700 doors and windows, and 156 stairways.

At the end, the building consisted of a convent, capable of sheltering 330 friars, along with a royal palace and a huge library of 40,000 books, embellished with marble, exotic woods and countless pieces of art, taken from France, Flanders and Italy, which included pipe organs and the two carillons.

The basilica and the convent were inaugurated on the day of the King's 41st anniversary, October 22, 1730. The festivities lasted for 8 days and were of a scale never seen before in Portugal. The basilica was dedicated to Our Lady and to St. Anthony.

However the building wasn't finished. The lantern on the cupola was completed in 1735. Work continued till 1755, when the work force was needed in Lisbon by the devastations of the Great Earthquake


HISTORY

The palace wasn't occupied permanently by the royalty, who considered the rooms too gloomy. Nonetheless, it was a popular destination for the members of the royal family who enjoyed hunting in the nearby game preserve, the Tapada Nacional de Mafra.

During the reign of king John VI the palace was inhabited for a whole year in 1807. The king was responsible for a partial renovation of the building by some well-known artists. However, with the French invasion of Portugal, in 1808, the royal family fled to Brazil, taking with them some of the best pieces of art and furniture in the building. Marshall Junot took up residence in the palace, to be driven out in turn by Wellington.

In 1834, after the Liberal Wars, Queen Maria II ordered the dissolution of the religious orders and the convent was abandoned by the Franciscans. During the last reigns of the House of Braganza, the palace kept being used as a hunt resort. In 1849 the monastery part of the building was assigned to the military, a situation still in use today.

The last king of Portugal, Manuel II, following the proclamation of the republic, departed on 5 October 1910 from the palace to the nearby coastal village of Ericeira on his way to exile.

The palace was declared a national monument in 1907. At present, the building is conserved by the Portuguese Institute of the Architectonic Patrimony, which carried out several recovery programs, including the conservation of the main façade. A major restoration of the historical pipe organs began in the 1990s with the collaboration of foreign experts.


DESCRIPTION

The imposing façade, built of local limestone, is 220 m long and faces the town of Mafra. At each end of the façade stands a square tower with a bulbous dome, such as found in Central Europe. The church, built in white marble, is located in the centre of the main façade, symmetrically flanked on both sides by the royal palace.

The king, wishing to rival the splendour of Rome, had sought architectural advice from his ambassador to the Vatican, who sent him small-scale models of important Roman religious buildings. The benedictial balcony at its centre is clearly mirrored on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. But this balcony is rather intended for the king, as a symbol of his power, than for the benedictions by a prelate.

The two immense church towers (68 m high) are inspired by the towers of Sant'Agnese in Agone (by the Roman Baroque architect Francesco Borromini). Their two carillons contain a total of 92 church bells, founded in Antwerp. The story goes that the Flemish bell-founders were so astonished by the size of their commission, that they asked to be paid in advance. The king retorted by doubling the offered amount. These carillons constitute the largest historical collection in the world.

The two towers are connected by two rows of Corinthian columns. The top row contains the statues of St. Dominic and St. Francis, sculpted out of Carrara marble, standing in a niche on each side of the balcony. The lower row contains the statues of St. Anne and St. Elisabeth of Hungary.

THE ROYAL PALACE

The spacious royal apartments are situated on the second floor. The apartments of the king are situated at the end of the palace while the apartment of the queen is 200 m away at the other end. Such was this distance that, when the king left his apartment towards the apartment of the queen, this was announced to the queen by the sound of a trumpet.

As king John VI had taken with him some of the best pieces of art and furniture in the building when the royal family fled in 1808 for the advancing French troops to Brazil, most rooms had to be redecorated in the original style.

The Hunting trophy room (Sala dos Troféus) is decorated with numerous skulls of deer, the furniture is constructed of antlers and covered with deerskin and even the candleholders are made of deer antlers.

The Benediction Gallery (Sala da Benção) borders at the upper level of the basilica. The royal family could here attend Mass, seated at a window opening unto the basilica. The bust of John V in this hall is a work of the Italian Alessandro Giusti.

The Throne Room, the Guard Room and the Room of Goddess Diana are decorated with murals by artist such as Ciryllo Wolkmar Machado, Bernardo Oliveira Góis and Vieira Lusitano.


LIBRARY

The Rococo library, situated at the back of the second floor, is truly the highlight of this palace, rivalling the grandeur of the library of the Melk Abbey in Austria. Built by Manuel Caetano de Sousa, this library is 88 m long, 9.5 m wide and 13 m high. The magnificent floor is covered with tiles of rose, grey and white marble. The wooden bookshelves in Rococo style are situated on the sidewalls in two rows, separated by a balcony with a wooden railing. They contain over 35,000 leather-bound volumes, attesting of the extent of western knowledge from the 14th to the 19th century. Among them, are many valuable bibliographical jewels, such as incunabula. These beautiful finished volumes were bound in the local workshop (Livraria) in the rocaille style (also by Manuel Caetano de Sousa).

Besides natural techniques of conservation for the books, such as the lack of space between the wall and the book (so it doesn't create humidity), there are also a few bats that inhabit this library eating any insect that could destroy this invaluable treasure.

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Kowdiar Palace

Kowdiar Palace in Trivandrum, Kerala, India built in 1915 by Maharajah Moolam Thirunal for his niece Maharani Sethu Parvathi Bayi, is the official residence of the Travancore Royal Family. Kowdiar Palace's architectural work is famous and has over 150 rooms. The entry to this famous palace, which has great historical importance is restricted.

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Alexandra Palace

Set in Alexandra Park, Alexandra Palace was built in an area spanning Wood Green and Muswell Hill, North London, England, in 1873 as a public centre of recreation, education and entertainment and as North London's counterpart to the Crystal Palace in South London.

OVERVIEW
The Great Hall and West Hall are used as an exhibition centre and conference centre operated by the trading arm of the charitable trust that owns the building and park on behalf of the public. There is also an ice-skating rink. Since 1995 the palace has been a Grade II listed building. Designed to be ‘The People’s Palace’ and later nicknamed (allegedly by Gracie Fields) Ally Pally, in 1936 it became the headquarters of the world's first regular public 'high definition' television service, operated by the BBC. The Alexandra Palace television station was located on the site and its iconic radio tower is still in use. The original Studios A and B still survive in the south-east wing with their producers' galleries and are currently used for exhibiting original historical television equipment. Occasional demonstrations on the original 405-line VHF standard may also be transmitted from the tower in future. The original Victorian theatre with its stage machinery also survives. The theatre and stage structure is on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk register.
There is currently an application to upgrade the listing by Hornsey Historical Society, which originally got the Palace Grade II listed (against the opposition of trustee Haringey council), and the BBC. Also, a planned commercial development of the building into a mixed leisure complex including hotel, replacement ice rink, cinema, bowling alley and exhibition centre has encountered opposition from public groups and was blocked in the High Court in October 2007.

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Dolmabahce Palace, Turkey

The Dolmabahçe Palace (Turkish: Dolmabahçe Sarayı) in Istanbul, Turkey, located at the European side of the Bosporus, served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1853 to 1922, apart from a twenty-year interval (1889-1909) in which the Yıldız Palace was used.

Turkish Gold Reserve

Dolmabahçe was built between 1843 and 1856 by Armenian architect Garabet Balyan and commissioned by Sultan Abdülmecid I, the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The palace design and décor reflects the increasing influence of European cultural standards on Ottoman culture. Neo-Classic, Baroque, Rococo and Ottoman styles all blend together into glittering opulence and grandeur. The 45,000 square metre palace cost a mere five million Ottoman gold pounds, the equivalent of 35 tonnes of gold— 14 tonnes of which went into the decoration alone.

View of Dolmabahçe Palace as seen from the Bosporus in Istanbu

Previously, the Sultan and his family lived at Topkapı Sarayı, but as Topkapı was lacking in contemporary luxury and style, Abdülmecid decided to build Dolmabahçe. Topkapı has exquisite examples of Iznik tiles and Ottoman carving, compared to Dolmabahçe, which has lots of gold and crystal. Tourists are free to wander Topkapı at their leisure, whereas the only way to see the inside of Dolmabahçe is with a guided tour.

History

The Dolmabahçe Palace was built between the years 1843 and 1856 under the order of the Empire's 31st sultan, Sultan Abdülmecid , at a cost of five million Ottoman gold pounds, the equivalent of 35 tons of gold. Fourteen tons of gold in the form of gold leaf were used to gild the ceilings of the palace. Haci Said Aga was responsible for the building works while the project was realised by Garabet Balyan, his son Nigoğayos Balyan and Evanis Kalfa.

The design is basically western in style, with elements of Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classic traditions blended with Ottoman traditional art and culture to form a new approach. Functionally, on the other hand, it is appropriate to the traditional Ottoman palace life and also to the Turkish House features. It is the biggest palace in Turkey considering that the area monoblock building occupies 15000 sqm.

Aerial view of the palace

The Dolmabahçe Palace was home to six sultans from 1856, when it was first inhabited, up until the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924: The last royal to live here was Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi. A law that went into effect on March 3, 1924 transferred ownership of the palace to the national heritage of the new Republic. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding leader of this modern republic, used the palace as a presidential house in summers and enacted some of his most important works here. Atatürk spent his last days and died here on 10 November 1938.

The world's largest Bohemian crystal chandelier is in the center hall. The chandelier has 750 lamps and weighs 4.5 tons. Dolmabahçe has the largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal chandeliers in the world, and one of the great staircases has bannisters of Baccarat crystal.

The site of Dolmabahçe was originally a bay in the Bosporus which was filled gradually during the 18th century to become an imperial garden, much appreciated by the Ottoman sultans; it is from this garden that the name Dolmabahçe (Filled garden) comes from, dolma meaning "filled" and bahçe meaning "garden." Various summer palaces were built here during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The present palace was built on the site of the old coastal palace of Beşiktaş, by the Armenian architect Garabet Amira Balyan and his son Nigoğayos Balyan. The Sultans moved here, since the old Topkapı Palace lacked the modern luxuries that Dolmabahçe could provide.

The Crystal Staircase

Medhal (Main Entrance) Hall

A visit to the Dolmabahce Palace begins at the Medhal Hall. Rooms lead from the Medhal are towards the sea and the land. The rooms facing the sea were used by the leading Ottoman officials, the Grand Vizier and the other state ministers, while the rooms facing the land were used by various administrators of the palace and the state, including likes as Palace Marshall, Sheikhulislam (the leading religius figure), and the members for the House of Representatives (Meclis-i Mebusan) and the Senate (Meclis-i Ayan).


Guests would first wait in this hall and then would be led inside at the proper time by a palace protocol officer. Upon entering the Medhal, you can see on either side of the room the Boulle tables which bear the monogram of Sultan Abdulmecid on top. The royal monogram of the sultan is also on the fireplace. The English chandelier hanging in the middle of this room has sixty arms. The Hereke fabrics used as upholstery for the furniture and as draperies are in the royal shade of red.

Dolmabahçe Palace

The Secreteriat's Rooms

The second room after the Medhal to the right is the Clerk's Hall, also referred to as the "Tiled Room." The largest painting in the palace collection, a depiction of the Surre Procession by Stefano Ussi, hangs on the left wall of this hall. Surre was used to refer to the caravan travelled from Istanbul to Mecca during the religious month of Recep bearing the monetary aid used to support the maintenene and the decoration of the Kabba and to provide help tp local population of Hecaz.
On the wall to the right is a painting signed by the Austrian artist Rudoplh Ernst depicting the fire at the Paris Municipal Theater and another painting of a Dutch Village Girl by Delandre. Decorated with French style furniture, this room also contains very valuable porcelain vases.

The Ambassador's Hall (Süfera Salonu)

Atatürk's room

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of Turkey, spent his last days in the palace as his health deteriorated. Atatürk died at 9:05 a.m. on November 10, 1938, in a bedroom that is now part of the museum. All the clocks in the palace were set to that time at 9:05 a.m. However, this has changed recently and clocks are set on different times around the palace. The clock in the room is still pointing to 9:05 a.m.

The Ceremonial Hall (Muayede Salonu)
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Umaid Bhawan Palace, INDIA

Umaid Bhawan Palace, located at Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India, is one of the world's largest private residences. A part of the palace is managed by Taj Hotels. Named after Maharaja Umaid Singh, grandfather of the present Maharaja of Jodhpur, this monument has 347 rooms and serves as the principal residence of the Jodhpur royal family.

Umaid Bhawan Palace was called Chittar Palace during its construction due to its location on Chittar Hill, the highest point in Jodhpur. Ground for the foundations of the building was broken on 18 November 1929 by Maharaja Umaid Singh and the construction work was completed in 1943.

Construction

Built on the Chittar Hill in southeastern area of the Jodhpur, construction employed more than 5000 men for fifteen years. The building does not use mortar or cement to bind stones together; all of its pieces are carved stones joined together by a system of carved, interlocking positive and negative pieces. A specially constructed train line was used to transport these large blocks of stone. Umaid Bhavan is designed in such a manner that it always maintains the temperature at approximately 23 degrees Celsius.

The palace grounds cover 26 acres (10.5 ha), out of which the constructed area covers 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) while 15 acres (6.1 ha) are devoted to the lawns.

Gardens of the Umaid Bhawan Palace

Designed by renowned Edwardian architect Henry Lanchester, the palace is a blend of eastern and western architectural influences. The building's prominent central dome, a majestic 105-foot (32 m) high cupola, is influenced by the Renaissance, while the towers draw inspiration from Rajput tradition. The project was to cost the Maharaja Rs 94,51,565. The resident engineer for this project was Hiranand U. Bhatia. The interiors for the palace were designed by Maples of London, however, in 1942 the ship transporting them was sunk by the Germans. As a result, the Maharaja employed the services of a Polish interior designer. The lavish interiors with gilt furniture and elegant artwork follow the Art Deco style, complemented by the exotic murals of the self-exiled Polish artist Stefan Norblin. The new Chittar Palace was a fitting tribute to its ancestor, the imposing and majestic Meherangarh Fort, which was built by Rao Jodha and has never been conquered by force of arms.

History of the Palace

Mehrangarh was the soul of the Rathore clan that would never change. But tireless builders that they were, Rao Jodha's original masterpiece had been altered repeatedly. And some of the alterations were in the powerful Moghul style that dominated much of the country's landscape. Its scalloped arches, domes, floral carvings, botanical paintings, water courses etc. Umaid Singh's Chittar Palace, on the other hand, brought back the Rajput tradition.

Umaid Bhavan Palace

The majesty of the palace was only to be expected. It was, after all, built by a blood line that likely went back all the way to the Rashtrakutas, the Kshatriya kings responsible for creating one of the oldest Hindu architectural traditions in India with the incredible Kailasanatha temple, the most intricate and awesome Hindu temple strewn from living rock.

Umaid Singh grew up on the cusp of a world in transition. The East India Company (aka the John Company) had been humbled by the great uprising in the Indian sepoy troops. The rebellion ushered in the British Imperialist era, and since the Rajputs remained loyal to the John Company, the British aristocracy grudgingly welcomed the princely states into their club. Umaid Singh, already integrated into the traditions of the past, was educated in one of the Princes' Colleges in the tradition of Eton, Rugby, Winchester and the other great British public schools of the time. He, like most of his clan at the time, was educated to be sophisticated, worldly and competitive. At the tender age of sixteen, he was pushed unexpectedly into the role of a Maharaja. Five years later, he gained full monarchical powers. The British and his regent, Sir Pratap Singh, used those intervening years to open the monarch's eyes to the possibilities that order and bureaucracy held for Marwar.

The lead project that would usher Jodhpur into the twentieth century was to be the new palace. It had to be large enough, grand enough, breathtaking enough to deserve taking the place of Meherangarh Fort as the symbol of Jodhpur. In 1924, the Maharaja met with Henry Vaughn Lanchester. He had spent decades travelling the world as architect and town planner, and was no stranger to the traditions of Hindu architecture. While discussing his vision for the palace, Lanchester outlined his strong stand against the Moghul aesthetic, arguing that the States of Rajasthan came under Moslem domination only to a limited extent, and their traditions very rarely made use of Mughal features. Umaid Singh knew he had found his man.

Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur

Determined to incorporate the traditions and unique world view of the land in his concept, Lanchester went eons back to the Hindu mountain temples for his inspiration behind Umaid Bhawan Palace. Umaid Singh knew immediately it would be a fitting tribute to his ancestors. But it is by no means a new antique. Umaid Singh was free of the archaic nineteenth-century lifestyle and in love with progress. While his palace may have been inspired by tradition, it was, at the insistence of the forward-thinking monarch, built on the cutting edge of progress.

The eclectic blend of art deco and millennia-old Hindu architectural traditions is still a powerful symbol of the Rathore clan's identity. While Meherangarh was, in the words of Kipling, “the work of Angels, Fairies and Giants”, Umaid Bhawan is, in the words of an anonymous poet, “a majestic, handsome warrior, his arms spread wide for a loving embrace.”

Present status

The present owner of the Palace is HH Gaj Singh, Maharaja of Jodhpur. He has divided the Palace into three functional parts - a luxury Taj Palace Hotel (in existence since 1972), the residence of the erstwhile royal family, and an area open to public where a small museum displays pictures, arms, swords, and other artifacts of Jodhpur's royal heritage. The opening hours of this museum are 10 am to 4 pm, and it is closed on Sundays.

Marwar Hall in Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur

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