Foz Palace

That pink palace dominating Restauradores Square holds one of the city's most spectacular reversals of fortune. Foz Palace, originally built in 1777 for the Count of Castelo Melhor, later became the setting for one of the most dramatic public auctions Portugal had ever witnessed. When railway magnate Tristão Guedes, the Marquis of Foz, purchased the palace in 1889, he transformed it into something extraordinary.

He filled it with masterpieces by Rubens, Rembrandt, and Velázquez. The Hall of Mirrors rivaled Versailles, and every room dripped with gilded decorations and Venetian crystal chandeliers. But just 12 years later, in 1901, financial ruin struck. The Marquis went bankrupt, and everything inside was auctioned off over 10 painful days.

Crowds flooded the square as thousands of priceless items were sold to settle his debts. The man who once said "I am not a man without possessions, I am a man without credit" watched his empire disappear. The palace then housed a pastry shop, a secret Masonic-inspired dining club in its neo-Gothic basement, and even an illegal casino before the state finally acquired it in the 1940s.