Palácio do Grilo in Beato, a place to dream
Palácio do Grilo in Beato, a place to dream
Palácio do Grilo is many things: a palace-museum-restaurant-bar-theatre, whatever the visitor wants. With more than 200 rooms to visit, the Palace's atmosphere takes you to another dimension, to dreams, to a live movie, to the fantastic.
This Lisbon space has a history of over three centuries. It was conceived by the 1st Duke of Lafões, Pedro Henrique de Bragança, in the 18th century. And it reopened in June of 2022 by Julien Labrousse. This French businessman discovered a notebook written by the Duke, an illegitimate descendant of Pedro II - the king who was born in Brasil when the crown flee. He had imagined "a place that is also not a place and that can allow the soul to take the flight that best suits it."
Three centuries later, Julien (who swapped Paris for Lisbon) bought the palace and adapted it, following the Duke's wishes, preparing it to receive visitors who might just attend performances, stroll around the rooms or enjoy the restaurant menu or the drinks in the bar.
In the remodeling, Labrousse's team wanted the setting to remain faithful to its origins, so only a few new pieces of furniture and decoration were added. The rest was left untouched. Inside the palace, it is possible to find sets of mural paintings by Cirilo Wolkmar Machado or tiles from the 18th and 19th centuries, part of the Palace's thematic rooms, such as the Academy Room, the Venus Room and the Chinese Room. The rectangular-shaped chapel houses a gilded carved panel from the second half of the 18th century.
The aim is that "people can wander, discover and live a little in the realm of the fantastic and the extravagant, while actors and dancers perform" scattered around the various rooms. So, some people jump, some scream, some lie down, some wander around the rooms. Everyone seems to be in another dimension, another time.
But no, they are in Lisbon.
The palace is open every day from 11am to midnight. Free entrance.
