Ponte do Almagre

》Monumental architecture during the late 18th Century in Portugal seeked to express a golden age of discovery. This extends beyond its buildings and into its parks.

One of the things I love about the Quinta da Regaleira is how its gardens are a living collection. Here, there are species of trees from all over the world. There are sequoias from North America, Magnolias from South East Asia, Cycads from Central America and even the Norfolk Island Pine from New Zealand. It is not surprising that Monteiro, a biologist and an avid traveller, planted these trees to bring the world into his garden.

》Chalet Biester – the film set for Johnny Depp’s ‘Ninth Gate’

Ernesto Biester, a Portuguese journalist and playwright of German origin, famous in his time, ordered this mansion to be built in around 1880 from the architect José Luis Monteiro. Its interior was conceived by the famous Italian that worked on Quinta da Regaleira, also in Sintra, and the sceneries of La Scala Opera in Milano, and theater São Carlos in Lisbon: Luigi Manini – and the sculpture Leandro Braga. Biester asked Monteiro to use the English style called ‘Queen Ann’ style, a mixture of Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romantic. The result is one of the most important buildings of his career and of Portuguese revivalist architecture, the Biester Chalet. Interestingly, all the four façades are completely different from each other, using a harmonious composition of various elements and of various architectural and decorative styles.

The chalet sits on the way to Pena Palace, perfectly fitting its surroundings. Its gardens are simple and perfect, adding to the artistic effect of the chalet. The house became an attraction and a landmark for Sintra, and is one of the first buildings and finest examples of chalets of its kind. I was lucky enough to visit it in about 1994 when it was rented by an American family. Impressive. The inside has a centralized plan with a large staircase. The house is well organized by use, practical, has a couple of kitchens, a second ‘service staircase’ more in hiding and an interior chapel. Even if every tenant changes some of the furniture, they cannot change the impressive woodwork and stain glass windows, yet the house was still ‘homey’. If you want to see its inside, watch the movie, the Ninth Gate!Read more