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Extract from the Mafra Travel Guides:
Connected by regular buses (timetables
www.cats.pt
) from Sintra train station and from Lisbon,
MAFRA
is dominated by one building: the vast, newly restored, pink marble
Palace-Convent
(daily except Tues 10am-5pm; ?3), built in emulation of Madrid's El Escorial in 1717 by Joo V, the wealthiest and most extravagant of all Portuguese monarchs. The convent was initially intended for just thirteen Franciscan friars, but as more gold poured in from Brazil, Joo amplified it into the world's largest basilica, two royal wings and monastic quarters for 300 monks and 150 novices. The sheer magnitude of the b...
read the whole Mafra Travel Guides...
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