Description
This magnificent Palace is part of a period of Portuguese architecture that gave rise to the so-called Brazilian houses and is located in the district of Braga, next to the Ave river, in the wine-producing landscape of Entre Douro e Minho.
It was built at the end of the century XIX, completed in 1906, and has been transformed into a property in an agricultural and livestock society since 1960.
It is composed of a quadrangular body of two floors with mansards, and four crenellated towers of three floors built in the corners. The main facade is recessed, integrating the entrance hall and balcony on the second floor. The top floor of the towers, where the deposits and staff rooms would be located, is lit by four-sided glass, aligned with the windows.
The interior is spacious and particularly refined, with original decorative objects and original furniture . Worthy of note is the staircase, which occupies the
center of the plan, with a wooden balustrade, a gallery with vaguely neo-Moorish arcades, and walls and ceilings painted by hand and worked in stucco, which would have been
made by the same artists who worked on the Palácio da Bolsa, in Porto.
It is not known who the architect may have been (it is thought to have been Italian) because the City Hall archives were burned and this information was lost.
The gardens, which in this type of housing generally include imported tropical plants, also display a lot of statuary, and include a forest and a large granite pool from the region. The farm, which extends over 50 ha of land, has extensive vineyards, a modern working wine cellar, installed in "Casa Nova", a building built in 1898, attached to the palace, an agricultural and livestock farm, a rural museum and a river beach.
In this vineyard the Loureiro grape variety predominates, with a smaller percentage of Arinto and Trajadura, being considered one of the best wineries in the region, with wines that have won medals and awards for numerous consecutive years.
An S. A company is the legitimate owner of the Palace with 50 hectares of land, 4 houses, wine cellar, press room, laboratory, testing room, office, mills, an old barn and facilities adjacent to it and several covered outbuildings, bathrooms, external kitchens, laundry.
There are 11 hectares of vineyards that can be increased by another 18 hectares. Agricultural implements, tractors and a van are also part of the property.
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