Sintra, Portugal, Nov. 21, 2025 (Lusa) - Parques de Sintra's project to restore the roofs of Monserrate Palace includes the Copa dos Frescos, in an intervention of "engineering at the service of conservation and restoration," according to an official source from the company that manages the monument.

Parques de Sintra-Monte da Lua (PSML), which manages historic gardens and monuments in the classified area of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra, has begun the restoration of the roofs and the Copa dos Frescos area of the Monserrate Palace.

The work will continue until the end of the first quarter of 2027, with an investment of "around €3 million", and aims to ensure "the conservation and stability of the roofs and associated structural details, as well as the preservation of the exterior walls and constituent details and the material integrity of the Copa dos Frescos", explained the company.

"The Copa dos Frescos is, almost jokingly, engineering at the service of conservation and restoration," João Cortês, director of Built Heritage at PSML, told Lusa.

The space, under one of the terraces to the south of the palace, has "serious problems with water infiltration which, over the years, have compromised" the "metal profiles that support the vaults" and, at this point, "restoration is completely unfeasible, and the degradation is irreversible," he added.

The technical director explained that the intervention "will require partially removing some of the tile panels, removing the existing profiles after proper shoring, installing new ones with modern materials that will prevent the phenomenon from happening again, namely stainless steel," and "reapplying the same tiles."

"Therefore, the only distinct and new material here, which also contributes to the authenticity of the intervention, is in fact the use of stainless steel," but the "construction method remains the same," João Cortês pointed out.

The beams supporting the vaulted ceiling are completely rusted and corroded in the space adjacent to the kitchen, while the skylight on the surface is no longer embedded in a flower bed to minimise water damage.

"With this type of intervention, which is a little more in-depth and has never been done before, we are now confident and comfortable that we will be able to put an end to the leaks in this space once and for all," said the technician.

While regular maintenance work is being carried out in a technical area at the entrance to the pantry, the overall intervention includes the rehabilitation of the roof support structures, cleaning, consolidation and restoration of the coatings, and correction of the drainage and waterproofing systems.

The work also includes "the restoration of stone and decorative coatings, respecting the original materials and construction techniques," according to the company.

"Lead poses its own challenges, as do the gutters, due to their scale and weight. The cast iron gutters will also be quite challenging, so they will have to be completely dismantled, treated and then reassembled," acknowledged João Cortês, in addition to the difficulty posed by "reproducing the tiles".

The property, which had been abandoned for several long periods, was leased by the English merchant Gerard de Visme, who had a neo-Gothic castle built there. The English writer William Beckford also stayed there before Francis Cook purchased it.

The park and palace were acquired in 1949 by the Portuguese State and, after years of neglect and looting, and following UNESCO's classification of part of the Sintra mountain range and village as a World Heritage Site in 1995, management was handed over to PSML in 2000.

The monument will be surrounded by scaffolding and covered during the works. Still, João Sousa Rego, president of PSML, stressed that the company adopts an "open for works" methodology, maintaining safe visiting conditions while the works are in progress.

He stressed that each monument has "a multi-year strategic maintenance plan" and that work will soon begin on the Royal Chapel of the National Palace of Sintra, which "will also be open to visitors".

LFS/ADB // ADB.

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