Royal Building of Mafra
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How it came to be
In 1711 King João V of Portugal vowed to build a convent if his queen, Maria Anna of Austria, gave him a child. After the birth of the Infanta Barbara, the first stone was laid at Mafra, about 30 kilometres north-west of Lisbon, on 17 November 1717.
It began as a small friary for 13 friars, but as gold and diamonds poured in from colonial Brazil, the king enlarged it into a palace and a great convent. The king's and queen's palaces, a basilica and a Franciscan friary were set in one quadrangular building, and the basilica was consecrated on the king's birthday, 22 October 1730.
The basilica has 58 statues, two carillons ordered from Flanders and six organs, and the library held banned books and incunabula. Building techniques learned at Mafra were later used to rebuild Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake. With the royal hunting park created in 1747, the complex was inscribed in 2019.
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