Évora - Palácio de Dom Manuel

The Romans conquered the place in 57 BC. BC and expanded it into a walled city. The city gained importance because it was at the intersection of several important transport routes.

During the barbarian invasions, Évora came under the rule of the Visigothic king Leovigild in 584.

In 715, the city was conquered by the Moors. During the Moorish rule (715–1165), the town slowly began to prosper again and developed into an agricultural center with a fortress and a mosque.

Évora was wrested from the Moors through an attack by Geraldo Sem Pavor ("Gerald the Fearless") in 1165. The town came under the rule of the Portuguese king Afonso I in 1166. It then flourished during the Middle Ages, especially in the 15th century.

The Royal Palace of Évora has its origins in the Convent and College of São Francisco, built before the reign of King Afonso IV.

In 1387, King John I took the first step in transforming the convent into a palace, when he ordered that two chambers, and antechamber, an inn, servants houses, a well, and an orange grove all be built at the convent, and evicted resident Franciscans from certain wings of the convent turned palace.

In 1470, King Afonso V raised the Palace of São Francisco, as it was known, to the level of a royal palace. He expanded the complex and installed his court there. The King spent large sums of time at the palace, but after his defeat in the War of the Castilian Succession, he lived the rest of his life in a monastery.

King Afonso V's son, King John II, was the first king to use the palace as a full-time palace He installed the Portuguese Cortes, his parliaments, in the Royal Palace of Évora. In 1490, King John II opened the Portuguese Cortes once again at the palace and on 24 March 1490, the palace became the center of festivities for the marriage of Afonso, Prince of Portugal to Isabella, Princess of Asturias. To facilitate the marriage celebrations, King John II expanded the palace, through the construction of a new wing and gardens. In 1495, Pope Alexander VI granted King John II, as per his request, the right to completely evict all clergymen still residing in the convent part of the palace, so long that he built them a church and a new convent.

With King John II's death, in 1495, his cousin, Manuel I, succeeded him as King Manuel I of Portugal. He took a great interest in Évora, establishing his court there on various occasions. From 1502 to 1520, King Manuel I ordered a vast series of renovations, constructions, and enlargements. So the palace grew to one of the largest palaces in Iberia. The additions were inspired by Alhambra of Granada.

Most of the complex was destroyed during the Portuguese Restoration War.

Since 1865, the Palace was used as an Archaeological Museum, theater and exhibition space, until a collapse in, 1881 destroyed its roofs. After the disaster, it was adapted to the public theater house. In March 1916 it was destroyed by fire, and remained so until 1943, when it was recovered by the National Monuments, which restored the property and saved the essential parts of the old pavilion

All that remains today, of the Royal Palace of Évora, is the Gallery of Dames.