Archive
Museum of documents
The history of Torre Bela told by the documents that prove it, room by room.
Six rooms, one for each period. Each holds the original documents, with their image, what they say and where they are kept.
The origins
From King João I’s charter to the dowry that took the quinta to the Cardinal’s family.
Room 2 · 1685–1702The Cardinal
Cardinal D. Luís de Sousa makes Torre Bela the head of an entailed estate and has the park walled.
Room 3 · 1715–1868The Dukes of Lafões
The park, the fair, the church left unfinished, the land survey and the quinta’s accounts.
Room 4 · 1868–1974The hunting park
The time of D. Caetano: the hunt, the aqueduct, the lodge and the contents of the palace.
Room 5 · 1975–19761975 and after
The occupation, the cooperative and the expropriation, through documents and images of the time.
Room 6 · 1995–2024The estate from the air
Aerial photographs and terrain relief: the palace, the gardens and the reservoir over thirty years.
The documents come mainly from the Torre do Tombo (House of Lafões, House of Abrantes and royal chanceries), the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and the Direção-Geral do Território.