Museums and Palaces

Chalet of the Countess of Edla

After major restoration works in the wake of a fire that partially destroyed it, this building was opened to the public. It preserves the memory of one of the great love stories of Portuguese history and is included in the visitor route of the monumental complex of the Pena Park, in the Serra de Sintra, the first Cultural Landscape classified as Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

It was built according to the model of alpine chalets in vogue in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century by the king consort D. Fernando II for the Countess of Edla, a classical singer with whom he fell and love and would marry in a second marriage in 1869, 16 years after the death of Queen D. Maria II.

The building, charged with a strong scenic atmosphere of the romantic spirit of the period, is completely covered with mural painting, emphasized on the outside with the use of cork as a decorative element on the door frames, windows and bull’s-eye windows. A typical balcony juts out and encircles the entire upper floor. The interiors are rich and well crafted, with stucco, frescoes and inlaid cork and copper.

In the gardens around the Chalet, D. Fernando and the Countess of Edla, influenced by the collecting spirit of the time, amassed botanical species from the four corners of the world. A special mention must be made of the Feteira da Condessa, one of the most exotic places in the garden, where tree ferns from Australia and New Zealand were carefully introduced to create a romantic setting full of drama.

Restoration work started in 2007 financed by EEA-Grants, supplemented by support from Turismo de Portugal and the Environmental Operational Programme. The Chalet has now been returned to its original state and, with the surrounding garden, it is now a unique new focus of attraction of the Pena Parque.