Place · Portugal
The history of Sintra, one place at a time
Assembled from 5 dug tiles · 21 sourced records · last reviewed 7 September 2026
Sintra grew up around a royal palace on high ground, holding kings from birth to death across four centuries. It passed from medieval Templar tenure through royal confinement and consort rule, into a town of fire, legend and rehearsed disaster on its outskirts.
These are the individual spots Strata has dug in Sintra — not a guide to the town, but a record of what happened on particular ground.
Digs in Sintra
The king who was born and died on the same hillA king called "the African" for his wars overseas came back to Sintra to die where he had been born, forty-nine years earlier. Câmara Municipal de Sintra
9222 BC–2018 A king was shut in this palace until he died
Ninety-five meters from where you stand, the Sintra National Palace held a king in confinement until his life ended inside it. Praça da República
1157–1972 A tower built with nothing to save
Near Sintra, a training ground rehearses fires and collapses that never actually happen there. Painel solar
1895–1916 A consort king died on this street in 1786
Steps from where you stand, Pedro III, husband and uncle to a queen, spent his last years and died in a house at Sintra. 6 Rua Dona Maria II
1900–1956 Where Sintra's history stops naming names
This location sits within Rio de Mouro, in the municipality of Sintra, and the ground beneath your feet has no story the record wants to tell. Rio de Mouro
1850
Sintra in layers
9222–8629 BC
A radiocarbon sample recovered close by dates to between 9222 and 8629 BC, evidence of people on this ground long before Sintra had a name. OpenContext
died 1293
Domingos Anes Jardo, a Roman Catholic bishop, was born in Sintra and died in 1293. Wikidata
circa 1157 onwards, demolished 1910
King Afonso Henriques granted Sintra to the Knights Templar around 1157, and their houses stood right where you're now standing, called Casa dos Templários. OPCTJ (Ordem Portuguesa dos Cavaleiros Templários) - Comenda de Santa Maria de Sintra
14th century
Plague swept through Sintra in the 14th century, killing most of the town's people, its spread helped by the cold, damp mountain air that still hangs over these streets. TheCollector
early 15th century to late 19th century
A short walk from here, the Sintra National Palace has been inhabited more or less continuously since the early 15th century, making it the best-preserved medieval royal residence in Portugal. Wikipedia: Sintra National Palace
1481
Afonso V of Portugal was born and later died in Sintra in 1481, inside the Town Palace whose twin conical chimneys still rise over the square. Sintra National Palace
1786
Pedro III of Portugal, husband and co-monarch of Queen Maria I, died in Sintra in 1786. Wikidata
1798
Christian August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, a general who served both the Austrian and Portuguese crowns, died in Sintra in 1798. Wikidata
circa 1850
The Cruzeiro do Alto do Forte, a stone cross raised around 1850, marks high ground a few streets from here. Wikidata
1886
José da Silva Mendes Leal, a Portuguese writer, journalist, diplomat, and librarian, died in Sintra in 1886. Wikidata
after 1889
After the Lisbon-Sintra railway opened in 1889, the town could not expand into the mountainside, so a new town hall went up nearby, the building still serving as the Câmara Municipal today. Wikimedia Commons caption
1895
An 1895 photograph of Sintra survives in the Portuguese Army Library's collection, one of the earliest visual records of the town in this archive. Europeana — Portuguese Army Library
20th–21st century
A short walk away, the village of Linhó has grown into an affluent expatriate hub known for gated communities, gourmet dining, and even hosting a Bilderberg Meeting. Wikipedia: Linhó, Sintra
1908
A further photograph of Sintra from 1908 is held in the same military archive. Europeana — Portuguese Army Library
1909
Maria Luísa de Sousa Holstein, 3rd Duchess of Palmela, a noblewoman known for her art and charitable work, died in Sintra in 1909. Wikidata
1910
The old Templar houses around Café Central, Café Paris and Calçada da Pendoa, visible on an 1850 map, were demolished in a 1910 remodeling that erased much of medieval Sintra's original street pattern. OPCTJ (Ordem Portuguesa dos Cavaleiros Templários) - Comenda de Santa Maria de Sintra
1916
A 1916 photograph of Sintra rounds out this trio of early twentieth-century military archive images. Europeana — Portuguese Army Library
1956–present
The Carlucci American International School of Lisbon, founded in 1956 as the oldest American school in the Iberian Peninsula, lies about half a kilometre from this spot in Linhó. Wikipedia: Carlucci American International School of Lisbon
7 September 1966
On 7 September 1966, twenty-five men of the Antiaerial Artillery Regiment of Queluz were trapped and killed by flames while battling a wildfire on the Sintra mountains at Alto do Monge. Algarve Daily News
1970-1972
Augusto Morgado spent 1970 to 1972 investigating the tunnel network said to run under central Sintra, publishing his findings in the newspaper Época that August. The Templar Knight; CETHOMAR blog
6 October 2018
A wildfire in October 2018 burned roughly 600 hectares of the Sintra-Cascais National Park, injuring 21 people and forcing about 300 to evacuate. Safe Communities Portugal
Questions about Sintra
What is Sintra known for historically?
Sintra is known chiefly for the Sintra National Palace, Portugal's best-preserved medieval royal residence, where King Afonso V was born and died in 1481, King Pedro III died in 1786, and King Afonso VI was confined until his death in 1667 after being deposed by his brother.
What happened at the Sintra National Palace?
The palace held rulers at the extremes of fortune: Afonso V was born and died there in 1481, aged forty-nine; Pedro III, consort king to Queen Maria I, died there in 1786; and Afonso VI lived out his confinement there after his 1667 deposition, until his death.
Who was Pedro III of Portugal and where did he die?
Pedro III ruled only as consort to his niece, Queen Maria I, from their joint coronation in 1777, holding no independent authority. He died in 1786, aged sixty-eight, in a house on what is now Rua Dona Maria II in Sintra, near the palace.
What happened at Rio de Mouro, near Sintra?
Rio de Mouro, a parish in the municipality of Sintra, takes its name from an 1840 legend, the Lenda de Rio de Mouro, whose contents have not survived. A stone cross dated to around 1850, the Cruzeiro do Alto do Forte, stands nearby on high ground, marking a fort site or crossroads shrine.
What is the training complex near Sintra used for?
Painel solar, near Sintra, sits beside a firefighter training complex whose tower, smoke house and mobile fire laboratory exist to simulate fires and collapses that have never actually occurred on that ground, only rehearsed there on schedule.
Why was medieval Sintra torn down in 1910?
The material records that the Templars held ground in Sintra from around 1157, and that medieval Sintra was demolished there in 1910, though the reasons for that demolition are not given beyond the fact of it.