Necessidades, Palace of

   Necessidades Palace is a sprawling, massive 18th-century palace in western Lisbon. As in the cases of Mafra and Belém Palaces, The Palace of the Necessities was ordered built by King João V, on the site of an old chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Necessities. The original 18th-century building consists of a chapel, palace, and convent, and contains a considerable amount of historic artifacts and art. As the current headquarters of Portugal's Foreign Service and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Necessidades is a working museum-palace with many different sections. Various mon-archs resided in the rose-colored building. During the course of the 5 October 1910 republican revolution in Lisbon, the last reigning king, Manuel II, spent his last night as sovereign in Necessidades Palace before escaping to Mafra Palace en route to exile in Great Britain. Damage to the palace from republican naval shelling has since been repaired. One section of the palace houses the Ministry of Foreign Affair's official library and archives, where several centuries of records of external relations are deposited.