Palácio das Necessidades

Built by King John V, the palace belongs to a larger architectonic complex—constituted by a Church, a Covent, a Royal Palace and Enclosure—edified between 1743 and 1752, according to a project attributed to Caetano Tomás de Sousa. An example of the Baroque Architecture of King John V’s era, it displays the influence of the Italian models that marked the architectonic production of royal commission in vogue at the time. With its main façade facing south, the three bodies that constitute the palace form an articulated plan, with two courtyards. Only from 1828 onwards did it become a frequent residence for the Portuguese royal family. In 1944, it went through a process of rehabilitation, to which the collaboration with Cinatti, the scenographer of the Theatre of São Carlos, was fundamental, namely in the artistic direction of the interior decoration work regarding stuccos and wood carving. António Manuel da Fonseca, one of the masters of the age, was put in charge of the paintings. The interior of the palace displays unprecedented beauty in its themed rooms decorated with stuccos, murals, wood carvings, sculptures and canvases. It is since after the proclamation of the republic, in 1910, that the palace remains empty until it is occupied years later by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which it came to shelter since 1950. Architect Raúl Lino as responsible for the work that adapted the palace to becoming the headquarters of the ministry.