Almudena
A palace
La Casa dos Bicos is a palace in the Alfama district, built in 1523 by order of Brás de Albuquerque as housing. Its facade is covered with carved stones with diamond-shaped tips called "cubic", these "cubics" demonstrate a clear influence of the Italian Renaissance. He built the house after a business trip to Italy (Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara). After the 1755 earthquake the building was destroyed. The Alburquerque family sold the house in 1973 and it was used as a warehouse for a while, now it's under renovation and in the future the library will host the José Saramago Foundation.
![](https://images.mnstatic.com/21/09/2109f47ffafb14a604a79391c1723d89.jpg?quality=75&format=png&fit=crop&width=65&height=65&aspect_ratio=65%3A65)
![](https://images.mnstatic.com/e1/d4/e1d466d433da1e0e5546287dcdc633f0.jpg?quality=75&format=png&fit=crop&width=65&height=65&aspect_ratio=65%3A65)
![](https://images.mnstatic.com/93/b0/93b06d36122c95c29b381dd364edc366.jpg?quality=75&format=png&fit=crop&width=65&height=65&aspect_ratio=65%3A65)