Façade The imposing façade, built of local
limestone, is 220 m long and faces the town of Mafra. At each end of the façade stands a square tower with a bulbous dome, such as found in Central Europe. The church, built in white marble, is located in the centre of the main façade, symmetrically flanked on both sides by the royal palace. John V, wishing to rival the splendour of Rome, had sought architectural advice from his ambassador to the
Vatican, who sent him small-scale models of important Roman religious buildings. The benedictal balcony at its centre is clearly mirrored on the balcony of
St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. But this balcony is rather intended for the King, as a symbol of his power, than for the benedictions by a
prelate. The two church towers (68 m high) are inspired by the towers of
Sant'Agnese in Agone (by the Roman Baroque architect
Francesco Borromini). Their two
carillons contain a total of 92 church bells, founded in
Antwerp. The story goes that the Flemish bell-founders were so astonished by the size of their commission, that they asked to be paid in advance. The King retorted by doubling the offered amount. These carillons constitute the largest historical collection in the world. The two towers are connected by two rows of
Corinthian columns. The top row contains the statues of
St. Dominic and
St. Francis, sculpted from
Carrara marble, standing in a niche on each side of the balcony. The lower row contains the statues of
St. Clara and St.
Elisabeth of Hungary.
Royal Palace File:22462-Mafra (49043375123).jpg File:22480-Mafra (48303852231).jpg File:22478-Mafra (49043376603).jpg File:Palácio Nacional de Mafra - Portugal (46300861054).jpg File:Palácio Nacional de Mafra - Portugal (28470989227).jpg The spacious royal apartments are situated on the second floor. The apartments of the king are situated at the end of the palace while the apartment of the queen is 200m away at the other end. Such was this distance that, when the king left his apartment towards the apartment of the queen, this was announced to the queen by the sound of a trumpet. As King John VI had taken with him some of the best pieces of art and furniture in the building when the royal family fled in 1807 from the advancing French troops to Brazil, most rooms had to be redecorated in the original style. The Hunting
trophy room (
Sala dos Troféus) is decorated with numerous skulls of
deer, the furniture is constructed of antlers and covered with deerskin and even the candleholders are made of deer antlers. The Benediction Gallery (
Sala da Benção) borders at the upper level of the basilica. The royal family could here attend Mass, seated at a window opening unto the basilica. The bust of John V in this hall is a work of the Italian
Alessandro Giusti. The Throne Room, the Guard Room and the Room of Goddess Diana are decorated with murals by artist such as
Cirilo Wolkmar Machado,
Bernardo Oliveira Góis and
Vieira Lusitano.
Basilica The church is built in the form of a
Latin cross with a length of 63 m. It is rather narrow (16.5 m), an impression accentuated by the height of its
nave (21.5 m). The vestibule (Galilee porch) contains a group of large sculptures in Carrara marble, representing the patron saints of several monastic orders. The interior makes abundantly use of local rose-coloured marble, intermingled with white marble in different patterns. The multi-coloured designs of the floor are repeated on the ceiling. The
barrel vault rests on fluted Corinthian semicolumns standing between the side chapels. The chapels in the transept contain altarpieces in jasper made by sculptors from the School of Mafra. The side aisles display 58 marble statues commissioned from the best Roman sculptors of their time. The All Saint's chapel in the transept is screened from the crossing by iron railings with bronze ornaments, made in
Antwerp. The choir has a candleholder with seven lamps sprouting from the mouth of seven rolled-up snakes. Above the main altar, inserting into the ceiling, is a gigantic jasper crucifix of 4.2 m, flanked by two kneeling angels, made by the School of Mafra. The cupola over the crossing was also inspired by the cupola of
Sant'Agnese in Agone (by the Roman Baroque architect
Francesco Borromini). This 70 m-high cupola with a small
lantern atop, is carried by four finely sculpted arcs in rose and white marble. There are six organs, four of which are located in the transept, constituting a rather uncommon ensemble. These were built by Joaquim Peres Fontanes and
António Xavier Machado e Cerveira between 1792 and 1807 (when the French troops occupied Mafra). They were made out of partially gilded Brazilian wood. The largest pipe is 6 m high and has a diameter of 0.28 m. King John V had commissioned liturgical vestments from master
embroiderers from
Genoa and
Milan, such as Giuliano Saturni and Benedetto Salandri, and from France. They attest of superb quality and workmanship by their embroidering in gold technique and the use of silk thread in the same colour. The religious paintings in the basilica and the convent constitute one of the most significant 18th century collections in Portugal. They include works by the Italians
Agostino Masucci,
Corrado Giaquinto,
Francesco Trevisani,
Pompeo Batoni and some Portuguese students in Rome such as
Vieira Lusitano and
Inácio de Oliveira Bernardes. The sculpture collection contains works by almost every major Roman sculptor from the first half of the 18th century. At that time, it represented the biggest single order done by a foreign power in Rome and still is one of the biggest collections in existence. The parish of Mafra (
Santo André de Mafra) and the
Royal and Venerable Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Mafra (
Portuguese:
Real e Venerável Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento de Mafra) have their headquarters in the basilica. On 10 November 2020,
Pope Francis granted a
canonical coronation to the image of
Our Lady of Solitude of the basilica, guarded by the Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Library The
Rococo library, situated at the back of the second floor, is truly the highlight of the palace, rivalling the grandeur of the library of the
Melk Abbey in Austria. Built by
Manuel Caetano de Sousa, this library is 88 m long, 9.5 m wide and 13 m high. The magnificent floor is covered with tiles of rose, grey and white marble. The wooden bookshelves in Rococo style are situated on the sidewalls in two rows, separated by a balcony with a wooden railing. They contain over 36,000 leather-bound volumes, attesting of the extent of western knowledge from the 14th to the 19th century. Among them, are many valuable bibliographical jewels, such as
incunabula. These beautiful finished volumes were bound in the local workshop (
Livraria) in the
rocaille style (also by Manuel Caetano de Sousa). The library is known for homing bats which protect the books from insect damage. The library's bat colony includes
grey long-eared bats and
serotine bats. The library was used in
''Gulliver's Travels'' (1996) as the Great Chamber of War for the Emperor of Lilliput.
Convent The rectangle behind the church and the palace houses the
friary of the Franciscan friars of Arrábida Order (
Ordem de São Francisco da Província da Arrábida) with cells for about 300 friars in long corridors on several floors. Between 1771 and 1791 this monastery was occupied by the
Hermit Friars of St. Augustine.
Mafra School of Sculpture The Mafra School of Sculpture was founded during the reign of King
Joseph I of Portugal, successor of King John V. As the Mafra National Palace had a great need for sculptors, local and from abroad, it became the location of a
sculpture academy headed by the Italian
Alessandro Giusti (1715–1799). Among the teachers were several important sculptors, such as
José de Almeida (1709–1769),
Claude de Laprade (1682–1738) and
Giovanni Antonio da Padova (who created most of the statues for the cathedral of
Évora). The academy was awarded many commissions by the
Augustinians from the monastery, resulting in the many marble statues and
retables in marble and
jasper in the basilica. This academy produced several generations of Portuguese sculptors, such as
Joaquim Machado de Castro (1731–1822). ==Cultural influence==