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.
