Palácio Nacional de Belém

This guide to the Palácio Nacional de Belém in Lisbon opens on All Saints' Day, November 1, 1755, when King José the First had come to this palace to escape the crowded capital just as the ground began to move. It follows the earthquake that devastated Lisbon while the royal family survived at Belém relatively unharmed, and the lasting claustrophobia the king developed afterward, driving him to abandon walled buildings altogether. His daughter Maria the First later began a proper palace on the hillside tent site, visible today, that was never quite finished.