Stage of weddings between the crowns of Portugal and Castile, protagonist of the History of the Discoveries, since it was here that the treaty of Alcáçovas-Toledo was signed, being also closely linked to the Portuguese Restoration War through the Henriques, the well-known Paço¹ dos Henriques is, in fact, a remarkable ensemble composed of palace, garden and chapel.
The building probably begun as a royal palace of the 14^th century, or prior to that, of very simple appearance, whose conjectural aspect has already been reconstituted by Francisco Baião. In the Middle Ages the royal court was itinerant and there were several palaces throughout the national territory where they could stay. That is why the Court rested here from time to time. Uncomfortable and losing their functions as the Court began to settle in Lisbon, and this city became the capital of the kingdom, royal palaces were sometimes handed over to lords of the nobility. It was in this context that the “big houses” of Alcáçovas and the lordship of the village were granted to the Henriques, family name that became the name of the place.
The Henriques family, coming from Castile, arrived in Portugal in the reign of King D. João I through D. Fernando Henriques (1365-1438), bastard son of King Enrique II of Castile. The lordship of Alcáçovas was donated by King D. Duarte to D. Fernando Henriques son (1407-1452) to great honor of his household, as well as the jurisdictions and royal rights of the Reguengo² or Julgado³ of Alcalá, in recognition of the ties of kinship that he had with the king of Portugal. But the letter of favour was only written in 1439, after the death of D. Duarte.
In these houses were held in 1447 the double marriages of the princesses D. Isabel and D. Beatriz (daughters of the prince D. Juan and granddaughters of the king D. João I) with D. Juan II of Castile, and D. Fernando, Duke of Viseu. Famous unions, which gave as main fruits the queen of Castile D. Isabel I, the Catholic, and the king of Portugal D. Manuel I, the Venturoso (the Fortunate). 
It is also said that in 1479 King D. Afonso V of Portugal welcomed in this palace the embassy of Garcia Sanches of Toledo, who came to negotiate the peace treaty between the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain to end the war of succession of the latter kingdom, having been established the delivery of the squares conquered during the same. Through an imaginary line, drawn at the level of the 27th parallel, at the level of The Canaries islands, the treaty also allowed the division of the domain of the seas between the two Iberian kingdoms: to the North for the crown of Spain, and to the South the lands discovered and yet to be discovered for the crown of Portugal. Spain received the Canary Islands while Portugal obtained the recognition of its dominion over the island of Madeira, the archipelago of the Azores, Cape Verde and the Coast of Guinea. Treaty ratified in Toledo in 1480 by the Catholic Kings, becoming known as Treaty of Alcáçovas-Toledo.
King D. João II stayed in this palace, where he received an ambassador of the kings of Castile, and where in 1495 he wrote his will, in which he declared successor of the crown D. Manuel, Duke of Beja.
Afterwards the building was surrounded by additions of new constructions, especially in the 16^th century, which little by little began to hide its initial appearance.
Nowadays it dates back in its remnant architectural feature to the first third of the 17^th century, with works owed to D. Jorge Henriques, 6^th donee of the village, in the 20s and 30s of that century.
Overlooking the palace, there is a garden completely walled and enclosing devotional architectures of fruition and productive character, in an isolated and unspoiled enclosure that witnesses a unique space in the national territory. In it stands out the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Our Lady of Conception), which was originally devoted to St. Jerome. The garden and hermitage, according to André Lourenço e Silva, must come from campaigns of works in the 40s, or perhaps 50s, of the 17^th century.
In the constructions of the garden, the inlaid work decoration stands out: the technique of embedding and overlapping fragmentary materials such as shards of glass, shells, cowries, beads, colored pebbles, marine sponges, porcelain and pattern tiles, assembled in a systematic way according to pre-established programs and consistently applied over fine mortar for the lining of walls, vaults, fronts or friezes. In the words of Victor Serrão, the inlaid work was one of the great arts of decorative innovation in Portugal and its territories of influence during Mannerism and Baroque, which, along with others, gives to Portuguese Art some very sui generis peculiarities .
There were 28 different species of shells used in the 17^th-century inlaid work programs, and the Orientalizing feature in the inlaid work decoration of this space is especially well attested in the chapel’s altar frontal.
Also outstanding in the art of inlaid work here applied is the equestrian figure in the garden decoration program, considered by André Lourenço e Silva to be the evocative portrait of D. Henrique Henriques, the 7^th donee of the village, in an iconography where the image of the authority of the Henriques family branch and the image of patriotic and anti-Castilian resistance, since he participated in the Portuguese Restoration Wars as an officer in the army of Alentejo, are linked together.
In the opinion of Vítor Serrão, acknowledged Art historian, this is one of the most remarkable buildings of palatial architecture of the 17^th century in the South of the country.
The ensemble was restored and reopened to the public in 2016, and has in fact an invaluable cultural value within the social and cultural history of the national territory.

Protection: Classified as property of public interest by Decree no. 45/93 of 30/11/1993

References:
BAIÃO, Francisco, “Trabalhos Arqueológicos no Paço dos Henriques, em Alcáçovas”, Boletim Municipal do Município de Viana do Alentejo, n.º 86, Julho de 2015, pp. 32-33.
CORREIA, André, Os senhores das Alcáçovas e os condes das Alcáçovas, s.l., Terras Dentro-Associação para o Desenvolvimento Integrado, 2017. 
SERRÃO, Vítor, “Prefácio”, in SILVA, André Lourenço e, Os Embrechados do Paço das Alcáçovas, Lisboa, Esfera do Caos, 2012.
SILVA, André Lourenço e, Os Embrechados do Paço das Alcáçovas, Lisboa, Esfera do Caos, 2012.

 1 - Palace.
2 -  Places or villages belonging to the King.
3 -  From the word “Julgar” (to judge), localities not as important as villages, but with their own council of justice and a judge.