Quinta das Lágrimas (ˈkĩtɐ dɐʒ ˈlaɡɾimɐʃ) is an estate in Coimbra

Coimbra

Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. It was classified in 1977 as an "Imóvel de Interesse Publico" (En

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

: Building of Public Interest) by the IPPAR

IPPAR

The Instituto de Gestão do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico , former Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico , is the public institute tasked with the conservation, preservation, and inventory of the Portuguese architectural heritage. This includes buildings and sites of...

. It includes 12 ha

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

(29.6 acres) of gardens and a palace that has been converted into a luxury hotel.

History

The origin of the estate is uncertain. It is known that it was a hunting ground for the Portuguese royal family and that it later belonged to the University of Coimbra and afterwards to a religious order. It was acquired by the Osório Cabral de Castro family in 1730, by whose order the palace was built. In 1879 a large part of the palace was lost during a fire. It was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century by Miguel Osório Cabral de Castro, in a style different from that of the original.

Building

The palace building has a central body and two lateral ones. The lateral bodies feature a balcony with a railing of square columns on their façade. To the right there is a chapel.

The "Fonte das Lágrimas" (En

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

: Fountain of Tears), which according to the legend originated from the tears shed by Inês de Castro

Inês de Castro

Inês Peres de Castro was a Galician noblewoman born of a Portuguese mother...

when she was killed, is located close to the spring identified by António de Vasconcelos, and which entry features a broken arch, probably from the fourteenth century.