Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 38.84905491538617, -9.08457201371805

The Palácio de Valflores, also known as Palácio e Quinta de Valflores or Quinta de Valflores, is located in the parish of Santa Iria de Azóia, municipality of Loures, in Portugal.

It is a rare example of civil architecture from the 16th century. It is a piece of Renaissance architecture with Italian influence built by Jorge de Barros, overseer of D. João III in Flanders.

It functioned as a house until 1870, when it was acquired by the English Reynolds family, who never gave it residential use. From that date onwards, the palace began to function as a warehouse for the agricultural holding of the farm on which it is located, and deterioration began. From the sixties onwards, it is known that the lower floors were transformed into pigsties, stables, cowsheds, poultry houses, etc.

Quinta de Valfores and, consequently, the Palace were classified as a Property of public interest in 1982.

Despite the recognition inherent in the classification, it did not serve to stop the degradation.

Having been acquired by the Chamber of Loures in 2006, in February 2019 the Palace was in the works phase for its complete restoration.

It is known as the Pumpkin Palace, due to the habit of using its balconies to dry them.

Palace Architecture

It is developed over two floors, adapting to the slope of the slope. On the upper floor there is housing. The plan is symmetrical in relation to the North-South direction. The entrance is from a vestibular area, now disappeared, to a large central hall, between two turrets, which once had a Mudejar-influenced ceiling covering that is now completely lost.

Attached, next to the NW corner of the palace, is a small vaulted volume corresponding to a small private chapel. The structure of this vault, although smaller, is similar to the one that the owner also had built attached to the main church of Santa Iria de Azóia.

The element that stands out on this floor is the loggia that opens to the south over the Tagus River. It originally consisted of a colonnade with ten lowered arches. Unfortunately, it is almost entirely lost due to a landslide that took place in 2001.

The lower floor corresponds to vaulted warehouses that approximately replicate the structure of the upper floor. To the east of the palace there is an attached volume corresponding to the kitchen. Below this there is a lower floor, approximately 2m above the warehouses, also vaulted.

The structural system consists of self-supporting walls made of stone and lime masonry, with rusticated construction on the corners. These have multiple cracks, almost all of which have been repaired. The origin of these is not certain. Originally they may have been due to earthquakes.

The lower floor is vaulted. The filling on the top of the vaults serves as the base for the floors. These are, today, made of cement mortar.

The vaults, under the loggia, show cracks, loss of bricks in the ribs, complete loss of plaster and are deformed, having been subject to shoring in 2003. The remaining vaults apparently have no major changes to their geometry, having however lost most of its plaster coverings and, in some cases, show some loss of bricks in the ribs.

Almost nothing remains of the roofs, with wooden structures and ceramic tiles. The process of roof degradation accelerated from the end of the 1970s. past. The pigments from the finishes on the walls on the upper floor are still visible.

With the loss of the coverings and consequent cyclical wetting, the state of degradation of the building increased exponentially, leading to losses of cohesion which ultimately resulted in it being vulnerable to actions that would otherwise not produce any effects, such as example the vibrations produced by the passage of heavy traffic on IC2.

History of Quinta de Valflores

• 1537 - This rural palace was built by Jorge de Barros, overseer of D. João III in Flanders, shortly after returning to Portugal, in 1537. The palace was built based on the fortune he accumulated as a merchant, which was worth at the time more than 300 thousand Cruzados, being one of the largest fortunes accumulated at the time (FREIRE: 1927, p. 64). His orders were explicit and the objective was to build a rural palace in the tradition of medieval royal and noble houses with some Renaissance influence. This property was later inherited by D. Luísa de Barros, the daughter of João de Barros, who married a nobleman who disappeared in the famous Battle of Alcácer Quibir. The palace remains in the hands of the family for the next 9 generations. In the 19th century, according to Braancamp Freire, D. Pedro Climaco de Alcântara de Barros e Vasconcelos lost the palace due to two debts, leaving the palace in the hands of a Brazilian.

• 1870 - The rural palace, as well as other properties in the parish, are acquired by the English Reynolds family, who begin to rent the palace. 1899 - Anselmo Braancamp Freire reports the palace to be in an acceptable state of conservation.

• 1978 - Under the proposal of the Organizing Committee of the Institute for the Safeguarding of Cultural and Natural Heritage and with Order from the Secretary of State for Culture, the Vale de Flores farm is classified as a Property of Public Interest, with several studies being carried out in order to define the Special Zones of protection.

• 1979 - The precarious state of the property is assessed by the DGEMN, which highlights the various needs with the aim of avoiding the ruin of this rural palace. That same year, the SEC (DG of Cultural Heritage) notified its owner through the Loures City Council of the precarious state of the property.

• 1980 - In February 1980, the building was analyzed by technicians from DGEMN and Loures City Council, resulting in an intervention plan, which would involve structural consolidation and reconstruction of the roofs and restoration of the original ceilings, as nothing remained of the Mudéjar ceiling.

• 1982 - The first Special Protection Zone is defined.

• 1997 - An Order from the Minister of Culture is issued on September 16th establishing a new Special Protection Zone.

• 1998 - The fifth is amputated due to IC10.

• 2000 - The property ceases to be an area of ​​agricultural economic exploitation and the state of ruin begins to increase due to more evident abandonment.

• 2001 - The colunelo is slaughtered and collected by the Association for the Defense of Environmental and Cultural Heritage of Santa Iria da Azóia. On September 24th of this year, the vast arcade on the 2nd floor of the main facade partially collapsed.

• 2005 - The process of acquiring the property by the Loures City Council begins.

• 2006 - The property is finally acquired by the Loures City Council. 2015 - In the list drawn up by Europa Nostra, a European heritage organization, among the 14 most endangered monuments in Europe is the Valflores Palace.

Full list of Geochaching below: