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Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 198
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 Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:35 pm Post subject: The public façade |
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The site chosen for this summer retreat was in a secluded hollow.[8] It had originally been owned by the Marquess of Castelo Rodrigo. When the ruling Spanish were driven from Portugal in 1640, the property was confiscated, and Rodrigo was accused of having collaborated with the Spanish. The estate and its hunting lodge then became one of the many properties of the Portuguese king, João IV. He set it aside as one of the properties reserved for the second son of the reigning monarch.[9] Thus it came into the hands of Dom Pedro, the second son of João V.
The architect, Mateus Vicente de Oliveira, had trained under Ludovice of Ratisbon and Jean Baptiste Robillon[10] during the construction of the royal palace and convent of Mafra. The more sombre and massive classical palace at Mafra does not appear to have influenced the design for Queluz, which is in a lighter, more airy style.[1] Work began in 1747 and continued rapidly until 1755, when it was interrupted by the Great Earthquake of 1755, after which the labourers were more urgently required for the reconstruction of the city. The earthquake proved to be a catalyst, because the urban rebuilding process stimulated the development of the arts in Portugal.[4] The subsequent architecture of Queluz was influenced by new ideas and concepts. When work recommenced in 1758, the design was adapted for fear of another earthquake. Thus the later works take the form of low, long buildings, more structurally stable than a single high block: as a result, viewed from a distance the palace resembles long enfilades linked by higher pavilions rather than one single construction.[11]
[edit] Exterior
The palace's public face to the town: the entrance from the cour d'honneur. Architecturally the most severe of the palace's many façades, it gives no hint of the architectural excesses beyond (see key 2).
Robillon's entrance is reached by flights of ingeniously designed steps adorned with statuary that employ forced perspective (see key 11).
The public façade of the palace faces directly onto a town square and takes the form of two low, symmetrical, quadrant wings which flank the forward-reaching wings of a small central corps de logis, thus forming a semi-circular cour d'honneur (see key 1). The southern of the two quadrant wings is terminated by the onion-domed chapel, while the northern wing contained the kitchens and servants' quarters (see keys 2, 1 and 13).[12] The only decoration comes from the simple classical pediments above the windows. This façade, that most readily seen from the town, presents a decorous and impassive public face with one of the most architecturally severe elevations of the palace (see illustration right).Passages Malibu Program
Santorini Holidays-Accommodation |
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