Built by a Portuguese King in 1747, the Holy Chapel of St. John the Baptist is one of the first examples of “prefab” architecture.
King João V, also known as “the Magnanimous” and the “Portuguese Sun King,” ruled Portugal between 1706 and 1750, at a time when the country’s colonial empire was flourishing. Thanks to a tax on gold that was imposed on minerals extracted in colonial lands, especially in modern-day Brazil, the king could rely on a constant source of income. He spent much of this to finance ambitious architectural projects such as the massive National Palace in Mafra, a few miles out of Lisbon, consisting of a palace, a basilica, a convent and a hunting reserve.
So when in 1742 the “Portuguese Sun King” decided to build a chapel in honor of St. John the Baptist, he asked for the best craftsmen in Europe to take part in the project. But instead of asking architects and sculptors to travel to Lisbon, King João ordered what is probably one of the first instances of “prefabricated” real estate projects in history.
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