Português
English (UK)
In 1936 the Sintra Tourism Commission announced the acquisition of Valenças Park in order to provide Sintra with a public park. It was seen as a great improvement and filled what was considered a gap: (...) "(...) it was not right that this town, known as the land of gardens and flowers, did not have a public park where its residents and tourists could stroll and rest their weary legs (...)".
The Parque da Liberdade was inaugurated in July 1937 in the presence of the Portuguese President. In August 1939 it hit the headlines once more with news of recently-introduced improvements, namely the new tennis courts and the skating rink. Since then, the park has become one of the main sites to visit in Sintra and it has been continuously maintained and improved. The plant cover in the Parque da Liberdade is bestowed with a natural beauty, landscape and plant interaction, all of which have helped to produce a variety of ecological niches and have led to increased biodiversity. The park hosts a plant population of 410 and includes 60 different species. At the Parque da Liberdade you will also find the Virtual Theatre; a magical visual system which enables you to view the origins of the exchanges between Portugal and Japan. A 16th century port city is reproduced in a scale model within which you can view virtual images of Japanese and Portuguese characters who recreate historical events such as the mission of four young Japanese Christians to Europe, which also included a visit to Sintra.
