National Palace of Sintra opens Christmas-themed exhibition

To mark the Christmas season, the National Palace of Sintra is presenting an exhibition in the Archer's Room featuring pieces from its collection related to this important Christian celebration, including paintings, sculptures and an eighteenth-century choir book, exceptionally displayed open at a page with music for Midnight Mass. “Christmas at the Palace of Sintra” opens on 3 December at 4:30 pm and runs until 11 January.

Among the works on display, highlights include a Portuguese sculpture of the Holy Mothers or Saint Anne Trinitarian (15th/16th centuries), recently added to the Palace’s collection; a sixteenth-century painting from Antwerp depicting the Nativity; and the painting “The Virgin and Child”, created in Italy in the 15th/16th centuries by Cesare da Sesto, one of Leonardo da Vinci’s pupils.

The exhibition opening will include a talk by Maria Julieta Mendes Dias, known as Sister Julieta, a religious sister of the Sacred Heart of Mary who studied Theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca and Religious Studies at Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon. Sister Julieta will discuss the representation of the Virgin in Christian tradition and explain the relevance of the objects celebrating the birth of the Christ Child in the context of a Christian oratory.

Spaces for retreat and prayer were essential in palace life. King Duarte wrote in his work “O Leal Conselheiro” that the Palace should contain an oratory where “(…) the lords should withdraw several times a day to pray, read good books and reflect on virtuous concerns”. This is the experience evoked by the pieces exhibited in the Archer's Room during the Christmas season.

Admission to the exhibition is included in the ticket to the National Palace of Sintra.