Description
The Palace, also known as Casa do Paço, is the most important manor house in the village of Azambuja and "one of the twenty most important in the kingdom", according to documentation from the time of its construction by the Lords of Azambuja, the Rolim de Moura family. It sported the coat of arms with the count's crown (which is currently in the Azambuja Museum). The house remained in the family of origin until the beginning of the eighteenth century, after which it changed owners twice until it finally reached the Vidal family, in whose possession it has remained for four generations.
The current building is a 19th-century palace, rebuilt in 1869 on the ruins of the original building, which dated from the beginning of the 14th century.
There is a strong connection of this house with France, not only because it belonged for a few decades to a French family surnamed Camelier, but also because, at the time of the so-called "French invasions", during the Peninsular War, the Palace was chosen as its headquarters by Marshal Massena – a French soldier under the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte who led the third and last campaign of occupation of Portugal. in 1810.
