History of Anadia Palace
The House of Paes do Amaral dates to the 17th century, having been improved in 1644, when Gaspar Paes do Amaral, Captain-Major of Mangualde, created a link with the Chapel owned in the village, located in front of the Senate and devoted to St. Bernard.
In the first quarter of the 18th century, Simão Paes do Amaral had the old house rebuilt – works that would be continued by his son Miguel Paes do Amaral, a nobleman of the Royal House, Knight of the Order of Christ and Donee of the village of Abrunhosa, etc. These great works, that would transform the small house with a Chapel into one of the most important baroque palaces in Portugal, took over around one century and were only concluded in the lifetime of Simão Paes do Amaral Quifel Barbarino (+1807).
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Palace of Mangualde was known as the “House of Paes do Amaral” but it came to be known as the “Palace of Anadia”, due to the marriage of Manuel Paes de Sá do Amaral de Almeida e Vasconcelos Quifel Barbarino, Lord of the House of Paes do Amaral, to D. Maria Luiza de Sá Pereira de Menezes de Melo Sotomayor, 3rd Countess of Anadia.
Various historical figures passed through this Palace, such as Marshal Massena, Prince of Essling commander of the French army who invaded Portugal for the third time in 1819, or King Luiz I, who visited the Palace in 1882 at the opening of the Railway of Beira Alta.
With a remarkable western façade, due to its Italianate south façade and the castellated east façade, its masonry work, the 17th-century tiles and works of art by artists such as Pellegrini, Giagenti or Lanzarotto, the Palace of Anadia is one of the most important examples of the 17th century manorial architecture in Portugal. The Palace has an adjacent farmhouse with gardens and a forest park planted in the 18th century and is classified as a “Building of Public Interest”.