The history of Sintra runs from Neolithic settlement on its hills to a Muslim fortress, a medieval royal palace and the 19th-century palaces and parks that UNESCO inscribed as the Cultural Landscape of Sintra in 1995.

This page lists the main dates in the history of Sintra and the people who shaped its monuments.

Historic centre of Sintra with the National Palace — The historic centre of Sintra, with the National Palace on one side of the square and the hills on the other.

Timeline of Sintra

Neolithic to Middle Ages: archaeological finds at the Moorish Castle show that people lived on the Sintra hills from the Neolithic period onwards.
10th century: the Moorish Castle is founded under Muslim rule. The first building of the National Palace of Sintra probably dates from the 10th or 11th century.
1147: after the conquest of Lisbon and Santarém, Sintra is handed over to Afonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal.
1154: Sintra receives its charter, and Gualdim Pais, a master of the Knights Templar, is given the running of the town.
Late Middle Ages: the National Palace is at the centre of a territory under the care of the Queens of Portugal, and kings use it for hunting and in summer.
1503: King Manuel I orders the construction of the monastery of Our Lady of Pena.
1560: Álvaro de Castro founds the Capuchos Convent.
1755: the Lisbon earthquake damages the Pena monastery and devastates the Monserrate estate.
1809: Lord Byron visits Sintra and later describes it in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
1834: Portugal dissolves its religious orders, and the monks leave Pena and the Capuchos Convent.
1838: King Ferdinand II buys the Pena monastery and begins the works that become Pena Palace.
1855: the municipality of Colares is abolished and its territory joins Sintra as a parish.
1863: Francis Cook buys the Monserrate estate and rebuilds the palace.
1892: António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro buys Quinta da Regaleira, built between 1904 and 1910.
1904: the first section of the Sintra tram opens between Sintra and Colares, and reaches Praia das Maçãs in 1905.
1908: the Colares wine region is demarcated.
1910: Queen Amélia is at Pena on 5 October, when the Republic is declared.
1995: UNESCO inscribes the Cultural Landscape of Sintra, the first cultural landscape inscribed in Europe.
2000: Parques de Sintra begins to manage the public parks and monuments of the Sintra hills.

Cobbled street in the historic centre of Sintra — A cobbled street in the historic centre of Sintra.

People in the history of Sintra

King Ferdinand II (1816 to 1885): a prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, born in Vienna, who married Queen Maria II and became king consort. He bought the Pena monastery in 1838, built Pena Palace and planted the Park of Pena.
Elise Hensler, Countess of Edla (1836 to 1929): an opera singer born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and raised in Boston. She married Ferdinand II in 1869, and the couple built the Chalet of the Countess of Edla in the Park of Pena.
Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege (1777 to 1855): a German mining engineer who directed the works of Pena Palace for Ferdinand II.
Gerard de Visme: an English merchant who rented Monserrate in 1789 and built the first neo-Gothic house there.
William Beckford (1760 to 1844): an English writer who became the tenant of Monserrate in 1794 and worked on its house and gardens until 1799.
Lord Byron (1788 to 1824): the English poet who visited Sintra in 1809 and wrote about Monserrate in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
Francis Cook (1817 to 1901): an English merchant who bought Monserrate in 1863, rebuilt the palace with the architect James Knowles and received the title of Viscount of Monserrate from King Luís I.
António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro (1848 to 1920): a collector who made his fortune in Brazil and built Quinta da Regaleira.
Luigi Manini (1848 to 1936): an Italian architect and scenographer who designed Quinta da Regaleira and the Palace Hotel of Buçaco.