Circular Greenhouse of the Tapada das Necessidades (Estufa circular)

The Tapada das Necessidades is the former walled park of the Necessidades Palace in Lisbon. The word tapada refers to a wooded enclosure where game was raised. João V acquired the land between 1742 and 1745, according to the Portuguese Association of Historic Gardens; Time Out dates the creation of this royal hunting reserve to 1742.

In the nineteenth century Fernando II turned the vegetable gardens and orchards into an English-style garden and set up a menagerie of rare birds and monkeys; the French gardener Jean-Baptiste Bonnard, who arrived in 1841, took part in this modernisation. The circular iron-and-glass greenhouse is owed to Fernando II's son, King Pedro V; the website A Mensagem states that it was built for Queen Estefânia. During that reign it served as a winter garden for exotic plants and flowers, and Time Out reports that it was restored in the 1930s. Later, Carlos I gave Queen Amélia a painting studio in the park.

The Tapada was classified as a property of public interest in 1983 and has been managed by the City of Lisbon since 2008. In 2021 A Mensagem described the greenhouse as solitary and faded by time and neglect. A recovery project was approved by the city in 2019; in 2024 the city adopted a requalification programme of about 20 million euros (19.3 million according to Time Out), funded by the tourist tax and entrusted to the Lisbon Tourism Association. Phased until 2028, it lists the rehabilitation of the greenhouse among its priorities.

The sources consulted describe a circular-plan greenhouse with an iron frame and glazing; the travel blog Andes Sem Parar considers it the finest built feature of the Tapada. They publish neither its dimensions nor the name of its designer, and give no exact construction date beyond the reign of Pedro V.

The greenhouse belongs to a park that combines geometric parterres, lakes with stone edging, the Casa do Fresco, windmills in the wooded upper part and a water reservoir, the mãe-d'água. Restored in the 1930s, it later suffered from a lack of maintenance, according to A Mensagem.

The requalification programme launched in 2024 links the rehabilitation of the greenhouse with that of the Casa do Fresco, the paths, public lighting, drainage and the boundary walls; the former menagerie buildings are to house toilets, a cafeteria and an exhibition space.

The greenhouse was designed as a winter garden for exotic plants and flowers, in a park where Fernando II had also set up a menagerie of rare birds and monkeys. The sources consulted do not say what plants it holds today, nor whether it will be replanted after its rehabilitation.

The park itself keeps a rich plant heritage. A cactus garden presents an abundant and exotic collection, noted by Time Out as well as by walking guides. The species classified as being of public interest include the dragon tree, the Japanese pagoda tree, the carob and the wild olive, according to Lisboa Para Pessoas. Much of the Tapada remains woodland managed under a forestry plan.

The Tapada das Necessidades, a walled enclosure of about ten hectares next to the Necessidades Palace, can be visited during the park's opening hours. The circular greenhouse appears along the walk, together with the cactus garden, the lakes and, higher up, the woods and their windmills.

Allow an hour to an hour and a half. The rehabilitation works, carried out in phases until 2028, may temporarily close some areas, including the surroundings of the greenhouse. According to the city, the park will remain open to the public whatever its future management model.