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The manor or large luxurious house is a two-storeyed construction combining architectonic features of the XVth, XVIth, XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. This is particularly evident in the first floor ceiling and the private chapel consecrated by Faro's bishop in 1791.
The Mascarenhas family, who built this house and lived in it, participated in the great events of Portuguese history : reconquest against muslim domination, the establishment of feudal society, The Inquisition and colonization of the Indies and of Africa. Certain branches of the Mascarenhas family were even related to the Portuguese royal family of the first monarchy. José Diogo Mascarenhas Netto, a liberal fleuron of the family, was born in this very house. He oversaw the construction of the first road from Lisbon to Porto and directed the denomination and numbering of Lisbon's streets. He was expelled from the country in 1810 because of his liberal ideas. He managed to take refuge at first in London, then in Paris. During his exile he was very active: in London he wrote liberal lampoons against the Portuguese regime, and published in Paris his scientific reflections in the "Annals of Sciences, Arts and Literature". This illustrious son of Alcantarilha was thus an important figure of his time on the national and international scene, and today the main street of the village bears his name.
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