the work that changed the paradigm of the arts in Portugal
The complex you see in Mafra is the Real Edifício, and it has five parts visited as one: the palace, the basilica, the convent, the Jardim do Cerco, and the Tapada. It has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019, and as a National Monument since 1907. The first stone was laid on 17 November 1717, at the initiative of D. João V in fulfilment of a vow for dynastic succession. The definitive project is by the Swabian architect Johann Friedrich Ludwig (in Portugal, João Frederico Ludovice), based on earlier studies by the Italian Filippo Juvarra, and the work was directed by chief engineer Custódio Vieira. The basilica was consecrated on 22 October 1730, on the king's 41st birthday, and the complex was completed in the following decade.
The basilica, inspired by the great churches of Rome, holds one of the most significant collections of Italian sculpture of its time: 58 statues in the round, three high reliefs, and a large crucifix with archangels, mainly in Carrara marble, executed in Rome and Florence. It's art that came here directly from the epicentre of European Baroque.
The standout piece is the Casa da Livraria. It's the largest 18th-century European library in a single room: 1,000 square metres, with around 30,000 volumes, on two-storey shelves designed by the Mafra-born architect Manuel Caetano de Sousa. The shelves were installed in 1776 and the books distributed in 1791. The collection represents Enlightenment knowledge in full: religion, medicine, pharmacy, history, philosophy, law, exact sciences. It holds 15th-century incunabula, the first Latin translation of the Quran from 1543, a polyglot Bible in seven languages, watercolour atlases, works annotated by the Inquisition. And one curiosity that has become its signature: two bat colonies live in the room and handle pest control for the insects that eat paper and wood. The system has been working for centuries.
The basilica also has a unique set of six organs designed to be played together, built between 1792 and 1807 by Portuguese organ builders António Machado e Cerveira and Joaquim Peres Fontanes. There are regular concerts with this ensemble, and hearing them is reason enough to come back. The bell tower holds 120 bells, including two of the largest carillons of the 18th century, cast in Antwerp and Liège. Outside the building, the Tapada stretches over more than a thousand hectares enclosed by a 21-kilometre historic wall, and can be visited separately, on foot, by bicycle, or by tourist train. José Saramago wrote about all of this in Memorial do Convento (1982), and reading the book before the visit changes what you see.
the whole scene
- Baroque Real Edifício with palace, basilica, convent, Jardim do Cerco, and Tapada
- construction between 1717 and the late 1730s, under D. João V
- designed by João Frederico Ludovice, based on studies by Filippo Juvarra
- library of 1,000 m² with around 30,000 volumes, guarded by bat colonies
- basilica with six organs designed to be played together, unique in the world
