King Ferdinand II acquired the old monastery and surrounding lands in 1838 and wanted a summer residence for the royal family. Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege, a mining engineer and Lieutenant-General, received the commission, and the infobox also lists Ferdinand II as a designer. Work ran from 1842 to 1854, was almost complete in 1847, and the clock tower was completed in 1843.
King Manuel I had ordered a monastery here for the Order of Saint Jerome, and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake reduced it to ruins. The new palace kept the cloister, dining room, sacristy and chapel. The article describes Romanticism with Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance elements.
The red and yellow facades faded and the palace looked gray for many years, until the original colors were restored by the end of the 20th century. Pena Park covers over 494 acres (200 ha). UNESCO inscribed the Cultural Landscape of Sintra in 1995.
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