
Bem-Vindo ao Lapa Palace
Hotel de cinco estrelas, membro do “The Leading Hotels of the World,” fiel à elegância e estilo intemporal, oferecemos um alargado leque de serviços, comodidades ultra-luxuosas no coração de Lisboa.



History of the Palace
Shortly after the 1755 earthquake, the first Baron of Porto Covo, Jacinto Fernandes Bandeira, built his house in Rua de S. Domingos, beginning the construction of the Lapa neighbourhood. The word Lapa means ‘Rock of the Moors’, from which the original ‘Lapa da Moura’ originated.
Approximately 115 years later, in 1870, the successful Viscount built a beautiful house in the Lapa neighbourhood for one of his sons. Very disappointed that his son didn’t appreciate the house, he sold it to the Count of Valenças who, in 1877, decided to turn it into a palace.
The Count of Valenças, whose name was Luís Leite Pereira Jardim, was born in Coimbra in 1844. He attended law school and completed his degree, publishing numerous articles in specialised journals. In 1877 he moved to Lisbon and was elected a councillor on the Lisbon City Council, where he helped improve the schools and achieved the realisation of all the proposed projects. In 1887, he obtained the licence to renovate the house and turn it into a beautiful palace. With the help of the best artists of the time, he built a tower so that, early in the morning, he could enjoy the view of Lisbon and the River Tejo.
The large green area at the back has been transformed into a beautiful garden. Some of the artists who took part in decorating the Palace were Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro and his brother Columbano. Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro was a great Portuguese ceramist of the 19th century and, at the request of the Count of Valenças, created some period furniture and tiles for the Palace. Columbano, a great painter of the time, better known as the painter of broken souls, painted the walls and ceilings of the Columbano Room, which used to be the Palace’s ballroom. Columbano used the theme ‘Dancing through Time’ for this painting.
Many of the figures painted on the walls were aristocrats of the time, such as the Count of Arnoso, Viscount of Sacavém and even the Count’s eldest son. The Louis XV Room was the old ladies’ boudoir, where they socialised modestly, according to the customs of the time. On the first floor of the Palace, today the noble floor of the Lapa Palace hotel, and where the Conde de Valenças Suite is located, there was also the dining room.

The tower – now part of the tower room – was the Count’s dressing room. The Palace was very famous in its day for the glittering social events the Count organised, bringing together all of Lisbon’s high society of the time.
It remained a family home until 1988, when the Count’s heirs sold the palace to the Simões de Almeida family, who turned it into a hotel, then called Hotel da Lapa. The architect responsible for the reconstruction was Alberto Cruz, an architect with a lot of professional experience in the field. Unfortunately, he was unable to complete the work due to his premature death. His son, Manuel Cruz, was responsible for carrying it on. The reconstruction took five years, due to minor problems that arose during the work. The architects aimed to preserve as much of the original palace as possible. The old weapons room, now known as the Belem Room, still retains its original style. Another reason for the delay in opening the hotel was that, during the works, an aqueduct was found, which caused a delay of several months and the river had to be lowered several metres. Today, the aqueduct is considered a historical heritage site. Finally, in 1992, the hotel was ready to be opened to the public.
During the Palace’s renovation process, the artists worked diligently to maintain its original features, preserving the specific characteristics of 19th century Portuguese society. The stained glass windows in the Columbano and Eça de Queirós Rooms are original pieces from the Palace, as is the furniture in the Eça de Queirós Room, including a 170-year-old carpet.
Service Excellence
At Lapa Palace, service excellence is our main motivation…
A new wing, the Villa, was opened in 2002 with 2 suites, 4 junior suites and 8 rooms, all with terraces and garden views.
The hotel now has three distinct wings, the Palace wing, the Garden wing and the Villa Lapa with a total of 109 rooms. The rooms and suites in the new wing have been decorated with Portuguese fabrics and furniture and all of them have an individual and distinctive décor.
All 21 rooms and the Count of Valenças’ suite in the Palace were redecorated in 2003 with furniture made in the north of Portugal in Paços de Ferreira, where excellent carpenters recreated the original D. João V, D. Maria I and D. José style furniture. All the rooms and the suite have different styles, art deco, colonial, Algarve and neoclassical.
The Conde de Valenças suite and the five bedrooms located on the main floor have been carefully redecorated with lamps, mirrors and furniture recovered from the Palace’s original period. The gold leaf petals on the walls of the Conde de Valenças Suite (originally part of the ballroom) have been restored, along with the two huge mirrors in the living room.
All the rooms in the Palace are decorated with porcelain pieces from Vista Alegre, a Portuguese ceramics company founded in 1824.