José Alberto Ribeiro & Maria Inês da Franca Sousa Ferro - Gold & Azulejos. Portugal's royal palaces - Interiors with miraculously intact furnishings, floors paved with colored tiles, walls covered with azulejos from the 16th and 17th centuries, coffered and frescoed ceilings, the grandiose libraries of Mafra and Ajuda, the rare collection of Baroque sculpture in the basilica and convent-palace of Mafra... Shady patios, parklands planted with tree ferns, century-old trees and rare species imported from Brazil, such as the Château de Pena - a neo-Gothic romantic folly born of the unbridled imagination of Prince Consort Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, future King Fernando II... Water features, waterfalls and fountains in Queluz, the "Portuguese Versailles", topiaries and lemon trees in the gardens of Vila Viçosa, fief of the Dukes of Bragança and later King Manuel I... In this book, the first to bring together all the royal palaces of Portugal, the authors and photographer Marc Walter have combined their talents to offer all lovers of Portugal a cultural and artistic walk in which the heart of this endearing country beats. - Swann - 2018