“Queens’ Palace” reveals the power of the women who ruled Sintra for centuries

For centuries, Sintra was a land of queens. Not only because some of the most important women in Portuguese history lived here, but because the town, its territory and the Palace itself were effectively under their administration.

Yet this dimension of power, autonomy and political influence has remained far less visible than the presence of kings in the historical narrative of the monument.

This is the history that “Queens’ Palace”, the new museographic project at the National Palace of Sintra, now reveals to visitors.

The result of extensive research carried out by Parques de Sintra, the project restores the role played by queens in the administration of Sintra and brings the public closer to their lives, their private spaces and the everyday life of a court that inhabited the Palace for centuries.

Queen Isabel of Aragon, Queen Philippa of Lancaster, Queen Catherine of Austria, Queen Luísa de Gusmão, Queen Maria I and Queen Maria Pia are the main threads running through a narrative that spans different periods of the Portuguese monarchy and reveals distinct ways of exercising influence, power and representation.

“For too long, we have looked at the history of palaces primarily through the lens of kings. But Sintra tells us a much more complex story. For centuries, queens wielded real power here: they administered a territory, managed property and revenues, and exercised justice. ‘Queens’ Palace’ does not seek to add a parallel story to History; it seeks to make visible a part of History that has always been here,” says João Sousa Rego, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Parques de Sintra.

Sintra, land of Queens

From the thirteenth century onwards, Sintra became part of the collection of estates and territories granted by the kings of Portugal to their consorts, enabling them to generate their own income and maintain the structures required for the running of their Household.

This was known as the Queens’ Household.

The queens were the ladies of the territory, and the Palace of Sintra played a central role in its administration. Here, they received their officials, benefited from the territory’s rents and taxes, confirmed contracts through the notaries of their Household and exercised justice, enjoying a significant degree of autonomy from the king.

This reality challenges the long-dominant image of the queen as an essentially ceremonial figure, or one whose role was confined to the family sphere of the court.

The new museographic project transforms this historical research into an experience accessible to the public, simultaneously showcasing the exercise of power and the private dimension of these women’s lives.

From the Queens who governed to the women who inhabited the Palace

From the medieval period to the eighteenth century, the queen, her ladies-in-waiting and other women of her Household occupied some of the most protected and private spaces of the Palace.

These chambers were at once places of intimacy, social interaction and learning. In this setting, young noblewomen learned to manage estates, support religious institutions and serve the interests of the Crown. They read, prayed and embroidered, prepared trousseaus, and passed on knowledge, behaviour and codes of conduct that were essential to court life.

The new museography does not seek to artificially recreate settings for which there is insufficient historical evidence. Instead, it draws on existing documentary and iconographic sources and uses objects, audiovisual content and other interpretive resources to bring visitors closer to the people and practices that shaped these spaces.

The project also features historical reconstructions of garments loaned by the National Costume Museum.

At the Queen’s Apothecary, which will shortly open to the public, visitors will be able to enter the world of health and medicine at the sixteenth-century court. Camphor, amber, musk and benzoin, sourced from different parts of the world, were among the ingredients used by apothecaries and the ladies of the Palace to prepare preserves, ointments and other therapeutic remedies, at a time when medical knowledge, religion, superstition and belief in amulets coexisted side by side.

Maria Pia and the final years of the monarchy

The project extends this narrative into the final years of the Portuguese monarchy through the Residence of Queen Maria Pia, the last queen to live at the National Palace of Sintra.

Following a period of closure for conservation and remusealisation works, these spaces are once again part of the visitor route, with new interpretive content that offers an insight into the more private side of Queen Maria Pia’s life and helps visitors understand her place during the particularly turbulent years leading up to the end of the monarchy in 1910.

In this way, “Queens’ Palace” establishes a bridge between two realities separated by several centuries: from the queens who administered Sintra as heads of the Queens’ Household to the last women of the royal family who made the Palace their residence.

After Pena, a new way of telling the story of Sintra’s monuments

The transformation of the National Palace of Sintra is part of a broader strategy by Parques de Sintra to enhance the visitor experience at the monuments under its management.

The project builds on the new model introduced this year at the National Palace of Pena, where historical research, restoration and the revision of the museography of the Private Chambers in the former monastery have helped restore the authenticity of the spaces and create different visiting experiences, tailored to each visitor’s interests, available time and desired level of depth.

At the National Palace of Sintra, this approach takes on a new expression: starting from research to reveal lesser-known stories, restoring spaces and content, diversifying ways of accessing the monument, and transforming the visit into an experience of understanding and discovery.

“At Pena, we took an important step by moving beyond offering just a single experience. We started with research and the authenticity of the monument to create different ways of getting to know and understanding it. ‘Queens’ Palace’ takes this approach further. We want each monument to reveal what truly makes it unique, and for every visitor to be able to choose how deeply they wish to explore that discovery,” emphasises João Sousa Rego.

This approach forms part of Parques de Sintra’s current development cycle, which focuses on the conservation and enhancement of heritage, research, the improvement of visitor facilities and content, and a distinctive and sustainable cultural and tourism offer.

The aim is to progressively move beyond a model of visiting centred solely on contemplating the spaces, creating the conditions for visitors to understand who built them, who lived in them, what happened there, and how these places relate to the history of Portugal.

A Palace with new stories to discover

The museographic renewal extends to other areas of the visitor route at the National Palace of Sintra.

For the first time, the Treasury Room is now part of the exhibition route, offering visitors an insight into the role of the almoxarife (steward) and the important administrative functions they performed.

In the Magpies Room, a former royal audience chamber, visitors can now see a replica of the so-called State Chair of King Afonso V, whose original, dating from the sixteenth century, belongs to the collections of the National Museum of Ancient Art.

In the Golden Chamber, frequently used by King Sebastian, a short film starring actor Vicente Gil brings visitors closer to the figure of “The Desired”, the epithet by which the king was known.

The Kitchen also takes on a new sensory dimension. The aromas of spices, fruit and vegetables, together with the evocative scent of freshly baked bread, help visitors interpret a space where the architectural scale of the famous chimneys is now complemented by the human dimension of the people who worked there.

This renewal forms part of a wider project to interpret the National Palace of Sintra, seeking to reveal the different historical layers, characters and experiences accumulated over its nearly one thousand years of existence.

New ways to visit “Queens’ Palace”

The museographic transformation is accompanied by a diversification of the experiences on offer, allowing visits to be tailored to each audience’s available time, interests and desired level of depth.

The Essential Visit includes the main visitor route, the Palace’s most iconic rooms and the gardens.

The new Full Visit also includes access to the Residence of Queen Maria Pia, allowing visitors to discover the monument’s more private spaces and gain an insight into life during the final years of the Portuguese monarchy. It is designed for smaller groups and for those seeking a more in-depth experience.

Another new offering is the staged visit “The Final Years of the Monarchy”, a historically informed live theatre experience held within the Residence of Queen Maria Pia itself.

Moving through the rooms where the queen lived, participants are transported to the transition between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and immersed in the political and family environment of the final years of the Portuguese monarchy.