Parques de Sintra restores around 350 door and window openings in the National Palaces under its management

Conservation and restoration work is underway at the National Palaces of Sintra, Queluz and Pena, covering around 350 door and window openings, both outside and inside the monuments. Favouring the use of durable, high-quality materials, the intervention on these wooden frames, which are fundamental to ensuring the conservation of the buildings, aims to improve their insulation and functionality.

All elements that make up the openings will be restored in order to re-establish the physical integrity of the materials, including the functional components and fittings. The wooden structures will be stabilised with a view to the overall cohesion of each opening, ensuring their correct functioning and to serve as a stable support where there is glazing.

At the National Palace of Sintra, the work includes not only the interior and exterior openings of some of the rooms included in the visitor circuit, namely the rooms of Queen Maria Pia, the Kitchen, the Magpie Room, the Arab Room and the rooms adjacent to the Chamber of King Afonso VI; but also various service areas such as the reserves, offices, changing rooms and the refectory.

Surveys were previously carried out to ascertain the stratigraphy of the various layers of existing paint in order to ensure that the tone and technique to be applied to the openings of each room correspond to its historical period and respective museography. It is thus expected that the aesthetics of some of the Palace's openings will be reformulated, as the current colour, mostly oxblood, is not in keeping with the historical period of some of the rooms.

In the openings to the Chamber of King Afonso VI's, the corridor and the adjacent rooms, the 19th century decorative wood panelling, currently covered in one or more layers of paint and other preparatory layers, will be replaced.

As for the National Palace of Queluz, work will focus on the interior openings of the Throne and Music Rooms; the Robillion Pavilion; and the Queen Maria and Pompeian Rooms. For the exterior openings, work includes the façades facing the Malta Garden and the Hanging garden, the Robillion Pavilion, the Auditorium, the Animal Cages and the Cafeteria.

In terms of aesthetics, the aim is to give a homogeneous appearance to the openings in question, in harmony with the original colours used in the construction of this Palace and safeguarding the decorative elements that characterise its interior.

At the National Palace of Pena, the main openings will be restored, including those of the Great Hall, the north façade and the main entrance. Paint schemes will be revised, degraded wooden parts will be replaced, and functional elements such as hinges and latches will be restored.

The work also extends to the Park of Monserrate, more specifically to the Boulder House, whose openings will be rehabilitated.

The implementation of this project, which represents a total investment of around 1.5 million euros, will be phased and is expected to last until July 2025 at the National Palace of Sintra; until the end of that year at the National Palace of Pena; and until December 2026 at the National Palace of Queluz.