This is the central atrium of the palace that the family and their guests would pass through on their way to the other sections of the house, including the bedrooms on the floor above with the landing looking down on the octagon. The area is characterised by the burbling of water from the central fountain and the natural light that comes in through the cupola and forms shadows among the foliage motifs that decorate the walls to take on the colour of the finishing cloth. The octagonal shape of the atrium already existed in the original Palace of Monserrate, built by Devisme and lived in by William Beckford. This reflects a reference to the Gothic period, inspired on the Founder’s Chapel of the Monastery of Batalha, a monument of great important to British Gothic revivalism.