Sintra, June 2016. The Mayor of the City of Sintra, Dr Basílio Horta, has accepted to join the Honorary Committee of the Portuguese Centenary Appeal. In a message sent to the Chairman of the Appeal, Anthony Bailey, the Mayor said:
“I am very grateful for your generous invitation, which I graciously accept, to become part of the Honorary Committee of the Portuguese Cenetenary Appeal. The most ancient and constant world allegiance should be permanently remembered and renovated. This is the precise circumstance that this timely endeavor wishes to symbolize through its admirable actions: the commissioning of two stained glass windows, one as a memorial to the Portuguese fallen of the Great War, and one of King Manuel II of Portugal, both to be placed in the Saint James Church in Twickenham.
“Sintra’s Municipality associates to these commemorations as a way to express its esteem for the great British Nation and also as a way to recognize the importance of the long standing relationship between Portugal and England.”
Known as the capital of romanticism in Portugal, Sintra is recognised by UNESCO since 1995 as World Cultural Heritage, in the category of Cultural Landscape. The town hosts the best preserved medieval Royal Palace in Portugal, from being inhabited more or less continuously from at least the early 15th century to the late 19th century. It is the second largest municipality in Portugal after the capital Lisbon.
Sintra recognises some common features and royal connections in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, which is home to one of the most beautiful Royal palaces, Hampton Court Palace and where a large number of works of art from the Royal Collection are displayed. Both Richmond upon Thames and Sintra are twinned with Fontainebleau in France.
