Butter Maker's Palace

Category: Civil Architecture > Palace

District: Lisboa > Lisboa > Lisboa > Encarnação

Location

The Palácio do Manteigueiro is located in the heart of Lisbon, in the Encarnação area, a zone that breathes the city's history. Its façades witnessed the birth of Horta Seca and Emenda streets, integrating into the urban fabric designed after the 1755 earthquake, under Pombaline planning. Its central position reflects the importance this building had and still has in the Lisbon panorama, being inserted in an urban context of great historical and architectural value.

The Origins of a Unique Name

This palace, also known as Palácio Condeixa, owes its most popular designation, "do Manteigueiro" (of the Butterman), to Domingos Mendes Dias, its first owner and commander of the work in 1787. Originally from Trás-os-Montes, Domingos Mendes Dias built his fortune in Lisbon in the wholesale butter trade, achieving remarkable prosperity that earned him the epithet and gave name to his lavish residence. He was one of the great capitalists of his time, a success story that gives the place a symbolic dimension of social ascension in 18th-century Lisbon.

Architectural and Artistic Grandeur

The Palácio do Manteigueiro is a striking example of 18th-century residential architecture, originally conceived by the architect Manuel Caetano de Sousa. Its imposing lines reveal a sophistication of times past. The interior, in its original conception, stood out for its luxury, with rooms richly decorated in specific colors (white, red, green, and yellow), its ceilings boasted paintings by Pedro Alexandrino and the doors were made of precious woods, imported from Brazil. The palace also housed a chapel which, according to historical descriptions, possessed what was considered Lisbon's last great Baroque carving decoration, attributed to the notable school of Silvestre da Faria Lobo. Although the carving is now kept elsewhere, its memory remains linked to the palace's artistic history. The noble staircase, entirely made of stone, is an element of particular beauty, culminating in a beautiful lantern that illuminates the space.

A Stage for Historical Moments

Over the centuries, the Palácio do Manteigueiro served as a backdrop for events of great relevance in Portugal's history. It began as a family residence, but quickly transformed, accommodating everything from a British military hospital to being the residence of diplomats. It was the scene of important political meetings, such as those of the Foreign Assembly and the Lisbon Assembly, the latter an influential center of high politics and plutocracy of the time. Most notably, between 1911 and 1912, the palace was the first official residence of the President of the Republic, Dr. Manuel de Arriaga, marking a period of great political effervescence in the recently established Republic. Its façade and interiors, although modified over time by various adaptations to its multiple functions, bear the marks of a long and agitated chronology, revealing its capacity to adapt and endure as a living testament to the memory of Lisbon.

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt