Built in 1781, the Palácio Chiado was the setting for balls, banquets, and gatherings of aristocrats and bon vivants. A space steeped in history, it gave birth to expressions like “à grande e à Française” (the grand and French style).
Today, it is reborn as one of the best restaurants in Lisbon, combining a refined atmosphere and an excellent gastronomic experience.
On November 25th, during the inauguration of D. Francisco de Paula de Portugal e Castro, 8th Count of Vimioso and 2nd Marquis of Valença, the palace
was reduced to rubble by a violent fire.
On June 2, Luís Rebelo de Quintela (? -1782), Judge of the Crown and Treasury of the House of Supplication and Judge of Appeals of the same court, acquires from the Irmandade do Sacramento, of the parish of Encarnação, the lands that occupy the 1st, 2nd and part of the 3rd property of Rua do Alecrim, as well as the part of the Cordoaria Nova and the Stables of the Royal House located inside the Cerca Fernandina, with 44.66 m in front and 47.52 m in depth, up to Rua do Tesouro (current Antônio Maria Cardoso), where the ruins of the house are located.
On December 11th, the future 2nd Baron of Quintela, also baptized Joaquim Pedro de Quintela, 1st Count of Farrobo, was born at the Palace on Rua do Alecrim. Despite his prominence in Portugal’s political, social, and cultural life, he will forever be remembered for his propensity for excess and excessive feasting. Intrinsically associated with the Palace, the famous expression “farrobodó” (farrobodó) was born.
Junot gave rise to the expression “in the grand and French style.” For nine months, the same length as the first French invasion, General Junot (1771-1813) established his General Headquarters and his official residence in the Quintela Palace. Portugal was eventually devastated by Gallic troops, who committed the greatest atrocities there. But Junot, indifferent to the hardship and poverty caused by the invaders in Lisbon, settled in the Quintela Palace on Rua do Alecrim with shameless ostentation, living the grand and French life.
The Dukes of Abrantes, Junot and Laure Permon, organize parties and balls at the Quintela Palace, the most notable of which, thanks to its grandeur, is the one on Three Kings Day.
Significant expansion of the palace, directed by architect Joannes Baptista Hilbrath. Collaborating on the project were plasterer Félix Salla, decorator Giuseppe Cinatti (1808-1879), and painters António Manuel da Fonseca (1796-1890) and Cirilo Volkmar Machado (1748-1823). Construction of the tunnels that allegedly lead to the São Carlos Theater and Cais do Sodré dates back to this period.
In 1828, long before Airbnb, business was already being done with the Palace, and part of it was rented to the French Consul.
A decree by King Miguel IV of March 15th strips Joaquim Pedro Quintela of all honors, privileges, and rights, forcing him to flee aboard an English ship sailing on the Tagus to escape arrest. The English flag is hoisted in the palace to prevent him from being assaulted by the Miguelists. The Baron contributes to King Pedro IV’s cause with a loan of 30,000 pounds sterling, prompting King Miguel to order his departure from Lisbon within 24 hours. He is forced to sell all his real estate assets to Lord William Russell, his friend, and takes refuge, under the assumed name of Mr. Smith, in the house of Diogo Carlos Duff, another English friend.
The 1st Count of Farrobo, Joaquim Pedro de Quintela, died on September 24th at his residence in what was then Calçada do Alecrim. Following the bankruptcy of the Quintela-Farrobo Association, it began to be rented out in its entirety, but never lost its class. From 1873 to 1874, it operated as a Literary Guild.
As a result of the long legal process, which lasted three decades and dictated the downfall of the Quintela-Farrobo empire, the Calçada do Alecrim palace was sold at public auction, having been acquired by the capitalist and commander Francisco Augusto Mendes Monteiro, who immigrated to Brazil, where he married Ana Thereza Carolina de Carvalho, also an emigrant from the same country, and inherited from his parents a large family fortune, built by his maternal grandfather who had the monopoly on the trade of coffee, precious stones and maritime transport between Brazil and Portugal.
Son of Francisco Augusto Mendes Monteiro, António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, the illustrious “Monteiro of Millions,” heir to a vast fortune, soon came to Portugal with his parents. He married Perpetua Augusta Carvalho Monteiro, returned to Brazil, and returned for good in 1876. He settled in the Quintela Farrobo Palace, at 70 Rua do Alecrim, a palace his father Francisco Augusto had purchased from the heirs of Baron de Quintela and Count Farrobo. A figure of culture and eccentricity, he had one of the last major artistic interventions in the Palace, perhaps more so because he commissioned the construction of the admirable Quinta da Regaleira. His requests to the Italian architect Luigi Manini were numerous and incredible, and he ordered that the door to his tomb in the Prazeres Cemetery, also steeped in symbolism, be opened with the same key that opened the Quinta da Regaleira and his Palace in Lisbon, on Rua do Alecrim. António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro houses his library and valuable art collections (painting, sculpture, iconography, goldsmithing, watchmaking, etc.), natural sciences (entomology, malacology, ornithology, herbarium, etc.) at the Palace. His lepidopteran collection, the second largest in the world, comprises many thousands of species, some collected by António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro himself at the Palace. The malacology collection, meanwhile, comprised approximately 10,000 species. The herbarium was considered precious, and the hummingbird collection was highly relevant.
The cobblestones of the sidewalks surrounding the properties owned by AACM in Lisbon (as at Quinta da Regaleira), are covered throughout with a hexaphas pattern in basalt on a white background.
The Portuguese Instrumental Museum is housed in the Quintela Palace. Its collection comprises approximately five hundred musical instruments. Those collected by Alfredo Keil and those from the Lambertini collection (acquired by Carvalho Monteiro) significantly expand the collection belonging to the house’s owner, as well as to various donors and trustees. Michel’Angelo Lambertini would direct the Portuguese Instrumental Museum until its acquisition by the National Conservatory in 1931.
Depending on the division of his assets, this property will belong to his son, Pedro Augusto de Carvalho Monteiro, and the Quintela Palace, whose matric value is 630 contos, will belong to his daughter, Maria de Melo de Carvalho Monteiro.
Maria da Nazaré Monteiro de Almeida marries D. Sebastião José de Carvalho Daun and Lorena – 8th Marquis of Pombal (1903-1965), on April 18. From this marriage two children were born, Francisco de Carvalho Daun and Lorena (1928-1929) and Manuel Sebastião de Almeida de Carvalho Daun and Lorena (1930).
Maria de Melo Carvalho Monteiro dies, passing ownership of the palace to her daughter, Maria da Nazaré Monteiro de Almeida, then married to the 8th Marquis of Pombal.
Manuel Sebastião de Almeida de Carvalho Daun and Lorena, great-grandson of Antonio Carvalho Monteiro and future 9th Marquis of Pombal, is born and baptized in the Palace.
After Augusto Ataíde’s contract ended, part of the Quintela Palace was leased to IADE. The Institute of Art and Decoration – International School of Decorators moved from its headquarters at 77 Rua das Flores, 1st floor, to the new facilities. From now on, IADE’s professors and collaborators would include eminent protagonists and participants in the visual arts scene in Portugal, such as: Lima de Freitas, Manuel Lapa, Manuel Costa Martins, Manuel da Costa Cabral, Rafael Salinas Calado, Eduardo Nery, António Pedro, Egídio Álvaro, João Vieira, Keil do Amaral, Artur Rosa, Júlio Gil, Jorge Viana, Manuel Rio de Carvalho, António de Macedo, Fernando Garcia, Jorge Listopad, Artur Anselmo, Henrique Tavares e Castro, etc., as well as some international designers of the caliber of Bruno Munari, John David Bear, and Claude Ternat, among countless others.
The Quintela Palace is being reborn by three partners who saw the space as a unique business opportunity, intending to develop an original and innovative concept for the capital. It was a challenging and time-consuming project due to its various constraints, which, over a year and a half, gradually took shape, supported by the right partnerships.
The first priority was the restoration of the paintings and stained glass windows, preserving the original features and remaining faithful to the historical past. For the architecture, Frederico Valsassina conceived a project where classic and modern elements would harmoniously blend. The space’s decor was designed by architect Catarina Cabral, who sought sober and timeless pieces that would integrate with the Palace’s ambiance without overpowering the grandeur of its details and frescoes.
With the vision and originality of a collective of intellectuals, artists, architects, chefs, mixologists, and DJs, the renovated Palácio Chiado was born—a space where the past inspires the present, and tradition merges with modernity.
A vibrant palace with a relaxed, informal atmosphere, ready to be experienced and discovered by all.
