The village of Sintra, World Patrimony by UNESCO located west of Lisbon, is an enchanting place with so many outstanding attractions. Quinta da Regaleira is one of them and was in 2018 the most visited cultural attraction in Portugal. To enter into the Garden of Quinta da Regaleira is to enter into a world full of mystery and symbolism that is connected to the sacred role that the Sintra mountain always have had in the Portugeuse culture. Sintra has always been considered a frontier between the known world and the unknown sea and a place with a romantic athmosphere due to the Royal Palaces and the nobles in the area. The Regaleira Palace itself was built by italian architect Luigi Manini in a Romantic Revavilist style in the beginning of the 20th century with elements from Gothic, Romanic and Renaissiance style as well as the portugeuse Neo-Manueline style. An educated and wealthy gentleman named Carvalho Monteiro was the man behind the project, a dream that came true, but that is another story. One important characteristic of the architectural style is the enormous richness in ornamental decorations both in the palace and the other buildings existing in the property, as well as in decorative statues. There is a rich symbolism and plenty of reference to alchemy, masonry, the Templars, esotericism and portuguese mythical tradition for the one that is attentive and has knowledge of the symbols. The property is spread out on the slope of the North side of the Sintra Mountain with privileged views to the National Palace, the Pena Palace as well as to the Moorish Castle and even to the Atlantic Ocean. The highlight is the monumental “Initiation well” a kind of an inverted tower constructed as a spiral gallery leading down into the dark underground and subterranean labyrintic galleries, some lit up, other immensly dark. The descent into the underground is made on a series of stairs and when reaching the bottom, looking up finding the small hole and a bit of bly sky above, one get the feeling of being in another dimension. From here on the bottom, more or less labyrintic corridors connects to other areas of the garden. Don´t be afraid to loose your way, there is always a way out and even if you don´t find it, this is not necessary a bad place to be lost. At the end of one corridor a large hole opens up and one find a small paradise of natural beauty with a lake, water cascades, and a stone passages which appear to float on the surface of the water. Continuing in the underground galleries one find yet another spiral gallery stair in the “Unperfect well”. This well, constructed with irregular stones has a very fascinating and somewhat intricating layout. There is much more to explore and as a whole, Regaleira is an exciting and very interesting attraction for all ages. One leave the estate with the idea that there are many stories left untold………and a lot of symbolism to still figure out the meaning.
To get as much possible out of the visit and understand a little bit of this immense and mystic world of symbols we suggest to do some background reading and to join a guided tour or use the audioguides that are available in several languages at the ticket counter. Enjoy Regaleira and wonderful Sintra!
