Dom JOSÉ I - (6.6.1714-24.2.1777)

José Francisco António Inácio Norberto Agostinho de Bragança. Son of King João V and Maria Ana of Austria. Died at the Ajuda Palace on 24 February 1777. He married Mariana Vitoria on 19 January 1729, who was born in Madrid on 31 March 1718 and died on 15 January 1781 at the Ajuda Palace. During his reign, he was not a regular visitor to Mafra. During a short stay from 3 to 8 October 1750, he came to participate in the annual festival in honour of S. Francisco (patron saint of the religious order who then occupied the convent of Santo António) and to hunt in the Tapada. It is rumoured that he also visited the Viscount's farm in Vila Nova de Cerveira (Ponte de Lima). The Canons Regent, whose installation in the Convent of St Anthony, to the detriment of the Arrábidos, he sanctioned, began the construction of the convent library in the room that King João V had reserved for the Throne Room. He is also responsible for creating the Mafra School of Sculpture, which he entrusted to Alessandro Giusti (1753).

Dona MARIANA VITÓRIA DE BOURBON
(Madrid, 31/3/1718-Lisbon, 15/1/1781)
Daughter of Philip V of Spain. Married King José I in 1729.

LIBRARY HOUSE
The hall of the Casa da Livraria of the National Palace of Mafra, the largest dependency of the Royal Work, was "generally recognised as the best in Europe" in 1828, according to the opinion of Friar João de Santa Ana. Originally intended to house the Throne Room, it was never realised as a result of the prolonged illness that afflicted King João V and kept him away from Mafra, it measures 88.88 metres (404 yards) north-south, 24.20 metres (110 yards) east-west and 9.46 metres wide; its vault rises to a height of 10.78 metres, except for the transept, where it reaches 13.20 metres.

The Lulian Art had cultists in Mafra, a circumstance that can be traced back to the Philosophy Conclusions of the Royal Studies of Mafra. As something more than a mere dialectical artifice, far surpassing any strict methodology of thought, the Lulian Art supposes a set of systemic and staggered structures, shortening the path to knowledge and facilitating intellectual exercise. Assuming a correct intention, this artificial memory requires simultaneous learning and training to give each concept its proper place and figure. To achieve this, the practitioner has at their disposal a board of 84 ternary combinations, each of which is the head of 20 chambers, totalling 1680 chambers (84 x 20), curiously only four more than the total number of houses or shelves (536 + 1140 = 1676) in the Biblioteca do Palácio Nacional de Mafra! As far as the organisation of the materials is concerned, we can see the play of polarities and the harmony of opposites within the general organicity.

note:[see Institutions showcase: Mafra Sculpture School]