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Closed for more than 50 years, the Palace of the Cascais Citadel, entrusted to the Presidency of the Republic, retrieves its role from 25 November onwards, after extensive rehabilitation of the whole building, as well as the Chapel of Our Lady of Victory and surrounding exterior areas.

On that day, the Palace will hold as its first public official ceremony the meeting of the Council for Globalization, an initiative of COTEC Portugal that brings together leaders of multinational companies with the objective to reflect upon the impact of globalization on their organizations.

This will be followed, on 27 November, by the opening of the Palace to the public which, in addition to an interpretative course along the Citadel Palace, will also be able to visit the exhibition “Game of Glory – the 20th century in jovial design”, an initiative of the Museum of the Presidency of the Republic, based upon the Ricon Peres collection.

During a period lasting for some three months, until the end of February, the Citadel Palace will allow the people of Cascais and all those who visit it, not just to satisfy their curiosity towards a public building with many historical connections, but also to attend two dozen Heritage Routes that the Cascais County Council, jointly with the activities to be developed by the Museum of the Presidency of the Republic, will be promoting in the same location.

Given the current scenario of budgetary containment, the cellars and former garages will only be used to house temporary exhibitions, and the already publicized installation of facilities of the Museum of the Presidency of the Republic, dedicated to the Portuguese Honorific Orders will be postponed to a later stage.

This emblematic building, an important part of the history of the town was, since 2009, the target of very extensive refurbishment works, at a cost of approximately three million euros, financed by counterpart funds from the Estoril gambling concession, and will now recover its role within the Presidency of the Republic.

In the future, and always keeping close links with the Cascais County Council, a regular visitors’ circuit will be set up, covering the areas open to the public.

The rehabilitation project, headed by architect Pedro Vaz, endeavoured to find a fine balance between respect for the architecture and materials initially employed (referenced to the time when the building came to be used by the Royal Family, at the end of the 19th century) and contemporary requirements, thus allowing the accommodation of special guests of the Portuguese State.

Several institutions collaborated towards the opening of the Palace, providing several pieces to better illustrate the interpretative circuit. Such were the case of the Cascais County Council, the Vasco da Gama Aquarium or the Queluz Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, in addition to several National Museums.

Inside the area of the Citadel, and in parallel, work continues on the reconversion of a hotel accommodation unit, under the aegis of the Pestana Group, which is expected to be completed during the first half of 2012.