Photos

Close to Lisbon, The Palácio Nacional da Pena is one of three castles within the Cultural Landscape of Sintra and classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The present castle was constructed between 1842 and 1854 by King Ferdinand II as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family. The commission for the Romantic style rebuilding was given to Lieutenant-General and mining engineer Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege. Eschwege, a German amateur architect, was much travelled and probably had knowledge of several castles along the Rhine river. The king had a close say on the design of the palace, proposing vault arches, Medieval and Islamic elements. After the death of Ferdinand the palace passed into the possession of his second wife Elisa Hensler, Countess of Edla. The latter then sold the palace to King Luís, who wanted to retrieve it for the royal family, and thereafter the palace was frequently used by the family. In 1889 it was purchased by the Portuguese State, and after the Republican Revolution of 1910 it was classified as a national monument and transformed into a museum. The last queen of Portugal, Queen Amélia, spent her last night at the palace before leaving the country in exile.

The title of the photo reflects my message to the owners of the TE site. I would like to think it was a mistake, rather than an underhand manoeuvre, that Internet Brands changed the Terms of Use to allege that members automatically grant a non-exclusive licence to TE to sell all photos and other material posted on the site. Quite rightly, the wording has now been removed.

Nevertheless, just to avoid any shadow of a misunderstanding by IB:

This photo and all others posted by me in the past and in the future are protected by copyright, such copyright belonging to me. I do not authorise Internet Brands to use my images anywhere beyond the TE website, nor do I agree to the sale of my images by IB or TE. Once copyright expires, the images are free for use by all. Since the copyright in photographs and other artistic works expires 70 years after the death of the creator, I anticipate that this will not be until sometime in the next century!